In many instances offenders are also required to pay a designated sum to aid victims of crime, court costs and restitution to offset individual victims' losses. Probation and parole officers intervene with offenders to ensure that they fulfill their financial obligation and establish a pattern of responsibility. Community Corrections also seeks to involve the community, its resources and victims in other meaningful ways. The department through its strategic planning process is developing ways to include county jails as a resource for specialized incarceration efforts including shock jail time and programming. Community Corrections programs match varying degrees of intervention, control and treatment with the individual needs of the offender, the offender's environment and progress to produce the longest lasting public safety.
Ongoing assessment is a key to the program's effectiveness.
The supervision strategies offered by the department provide judges and field staff with progressively restrictive sentencing and supervision options. Likewise, they provide institutional parole staff and the parole board with varying release and community supervision options to achieve successful reintegration of inmates back into society.