Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-36-103: Purposes of chapter

The purposes of this chapter are to:

(1) Establish a mechanism for using state funds to contract with local governments and qualified private entities to develop community-based alternatives to incarceration that provide a treatment-centered pathway and community-based supervision for offenders, thereby reserving state penal institution, local jail, or workhouse bed space for other offenders;

(2) Facilitate the growth of treatment-centered pathways to alleviate geographical disparities in Tennessee with respect to the availability of such pathways available to judges at sentencing; and

(3) Reduce the number of felony offenders committed to state penal institutions, local jails, and workhouses for whom a treatment-centered pathway and appropriate evidence-based community supervision will result in less recidivism and more effective outcomes.