Swift and Certain Sanctions Training and Technical Assistance Resource Center

The Swift and Certain Sanctions (SAC)/Replicating the Concepts Behind Project HOPE program provides funding to states, units of local government, territories, and federally recognized Indian tribes (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior) in an effort to enhance public safety, foster collaboration, and to improve the outcomes of individuals under the supervision of community corrections.

The SAC Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Resource Center program, which is funded by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, Pub. L. No. 113-76, 128 Stat. 5, 63, §§ 22 and 29, will provide TTA resources for state, local, and tribal governments to establish or enhance alternatives to incarceration that are focused on modifying and reducing criminal behavior and enhancing public safety through the use of HOPE SAC sanction initiatives. The specific objective of this program is to identify and support a highly qualified team of experts to establish a TTA resource center to assist jurisdictions across the United States that are interested in developing, enhancing, and/or improving the fidelity of their SAC efforts.

Pepperdine University will use grant funds to operate the Swift and Certain Sanctions (SAC) Training and Technical Assistance Resource Center. SAC is an approach to community supervision of offenders (probation and parole) that employs swift responses to every violation of the conditions of supervision, with certain but modest sanctions. Considerable evidence suggests that such an approach improves compliance and reduces reoffending without increasing the overall use of incarceration resources. The Resource Center will assist interested jurisdictions with developing and implementing SAC models that are specific to their needs, capabilities, and characteristics. The goals are to enable participating jurisdictions to implement SAC supervision with fidelity or to improve their implementation of an existing program, through coaching and technical assistance; to ensure that they implement SAC supervision with fidelity or improve their implementation through fidelity monitoring and data analysis; and to improve the fields understanding of SAC policies, practices, and TTA provisions.

CA/NCF