What Sort Of Crimes May Result In A Jail Sentence?

This would depend on the offense. Some crimes like a DUI have mandatory jail time, and certain courts have mandatory jail time for prostitution cases. It would depend on the jurisdiction and it would depend on the court but generally, DUIs always have some sort of mandatory jail time written into the statute. Home detention would be allowed in some cases depending on the court, and the jail time could be reduced if someone did home detention or a continuance alcohol monitoring or something like that for a DUI case.

What Are The Different Options Someone Has Besides Jail?

This would depend on the crime but sometimes there might be home detention in lieu of jail. There is community service and there could be days suspended. They sometimes suspend jail time if the person puts an ignition interlock on the vehicle in a DUI case. Certain diversion programs relating to drug offenses in Arizona allow the person to do the TASK program, which is a diversion program that is allowed in lieu of any sort of jail time. The person would have to pay a fee to enter this program and then go through it. Prostitution cases sometimes have diversion options as well, so depending on the case and the crime, there may be multiple alternatives to jail time.

Does The Judge Decide Whether The Person Goes To A High Level Security Prison Or Is It Based Around The Severity Of The Crime?

This would definitely be more based on the severity of the crime. Someone who pleaded to a dangerous offense in a felony case would get housed in a different facility than someone who pleaded to a non-dangerous offense. If someone had work release in a misdemeanor case or in a DUI case in Arizona, then they would generally be placed somewhere called tent city so that they could be released to work every day, so where the person went would depend on the severity of the crime and what they eventually pled to.

Are Rehabilitation Programs Imposed By The Judge Or By The Court?

Rehabilitation programs can also refer to diversion programs, like TASK, which charges a fee to enter into it. For a drug offense, they would have to pay $20 each time they tested their urine or anything like that, and the program cost might be somewhere around $1,000 depending on what the program was for. A domestic violence offense would be a different diversion program where there would be classes associated required and there would be fees for those classes. Ultimately it would depend on the offense and what type of program a person would be entering into.

Can The Courts Impose Alcoholic Anonymous Or Narcotics Anonymous Or Anything Like That?

Yes, they can. A lot of the times for a DUI offense, it would be written into the plea that the client would need to do a screening. A screening is where they would ask questions about the person, relating to either alcohol or drugs, depending on what the screening was for. They would have the person do counseling with a certain center and the counseling center would determine the amount of counseling that would be required. Frequently, 16 to 36 hours of additional counseling might be required, and the court would impose that the person would have to go through that counseling. There might be anger management classes assessed in regards to domestic violence cases, so whether the court imposed the additional counseling or classes would depend on the offense.

Do Clients See Jail Time As Preferable?

I have had people say that they did not want to pay the fee for the house arrest program or they felt they would just be better off doing the jail time and getting it done with rather than spending the time doing home detention. It is rare but there have been people who decided that jail time was a better option for them than having to do certain things. In certain cases such as a DUI, a certain number of days can be suspended if the person agreed to install an ignition interlock device but sometimes, people will just opt to do more jail time rather than have to install that device on their vehicle.

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