摘要：The objective of this Campbell Systematic Review was to assess the relative effects of custodial sanctions (imprisonment) and non‐custodial (“alternative” or “community”) sanctions on re‐offending. By “custodial” we understand any sanction where offenders are deprived of freedom of movement, i.e. placed in a closed residential setting not their home, no matter whether they are allowed to leave these premises during the day or during weekends. Thus, boot camps would be considered “custodial” settings according to the definition adopted here. By “noncustodial”, we mean any form of sanction that does not involve any deprivation of liberty, such as community work, electronic monitoring, financial or suspended custodial sanctions. Thus, the category of non‐custodial sanctions includes a great variety of punishments that have in common to leave the offender in the community rather than putting him into confinement. Studies written in any language and prepared between 1961 and 2002 were considered for inclusion. Although a vast majority of the 23 eligible studies show noncustodial sanctions to be more beneficial in terms of re‐offending than custodial sanctions, no significant difference is found in the meta‐analysis based on four controlled and one natural experiments. The review identified several shortcomings of studies on this subject.
