Members of the public, surveyed through numerous polls and focus groups, react positively to these punishments. They particularly like requiring work, restitution, and holding offenders accountable while carefully restricting and monitoring their movements in the community.

The public also approves of drug treatment for criminals. A 1994 survey by Peter Hart indicated that half of those surveyed believes that providing government-funded drug treatment for everyone who sought it would make a major difference in drug-related crime. Only 14% said such a strategy would make no difference at all. And of those surveyed who personally had known a drug-addicted person, seven out of 10 believed that an addicted criminal is helped more by a supervised treatment program than by a prison term.

Furthermore, communities have an important voice in determining which intermediate punishments to develop in most states. Members of the public sit with local officials to plan, monitor, and evaluate the programs they believe most appropriate to their area. In North Carolina, for instance, citizens work with judges, treatment providers, criminal justice and government officials to determine how designated state funds will be used for local programs.

This citizen involvement is critical to the success of the programs, ensuring the understanding, support, and commitment of the broader public without which the programs could not survive.