SACRAMENTO - (INT) - California is under pressure to adopt and expand alternatives to custody-based punishment, commonly called incarceration, that can hold offenders accountable, are cost-effective, and do not have negative effects on public safety.

Perhaps the most immediate impetus for change was a 2009 federal court order to address overcrowding by reducing the state prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity by 2016.

Costs per inmate are among the highest in the nation.

In 2012, the per capita cost to incarcerate an offender in the state prison system was $58,816; a county jail inmate on average, cost about $41,563 per year.

The overall number of individuals under correctional supervision has decreased in recent years. Although the shares of offenders in prison or jail versus parole or probation are unchanged, there has been a substantial increase in the percentage of offenders managed by the counties.

California counties included in yearly U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) surveys between 2003 and 2012 had substantial shares, ranging from 11 to 18 percent, of individuals under their control who were not confined in jail facilities.

There was an overall increase in the use of split sentencing between 2012 and 2013, but it varied significantly across the state.

Usage should continue to increase now that state law, as of January 1, 2015, makes a split sentence the default for realigned offenders.

Counties such as Contra Costa, Riverside, San Benito, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus have split sentencing rates above 75 percent. However, a majority of counties have split sentencing rates below 50 percent.

Statewide, the split sentencing rate increased from 27 percent in 2012 to 32 percent in 2013. However, the statewide rate in 2012 and 2013 is strongly affected by the low usage rate in Los Angeles County (3.64% and 1.43%, respectively). With Los Angeles omitted from the calculation, the statewide rate is 35 percent in 2012 and 43 percent in 2013.

The most recent and convincing estimates suggest that a one-person increase in the incarceration rate results in a decrease of .2 to .3 reported incidents of violent crime per 100,000 residents, and a decrease of 2.9 to 3.4 in reported property crimes per 100,000.

Story Date: May 8, 2015