This document discusses parole, its history, and issues related to reentry of offenders. It covers topics such as the definition and types of parole, the development of parole in the US and England, characteristics of parolees, arguments around whether parole is effective, and challenges with reintegration of offenders. It also addresses related topics such as reentry courts, community policing, and debates around abolishing parole boards.

1. Chapter 8
Parole:
Early Release and Reentry
McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.

2. Parole
 The conditional release of a prisoner, prior to completion
of the imposed sentence, under the supervision of a
parole officer
 Discretionary Release : Early release based on the
paroling authority’s assessment of eligibility
 Mandatory Release: Early release after a time period
specified by law
 Pardon: An executive act that removes both
punishment and guilt
 Reprieve: An executive act that reduces the severity of
punishment but the person remains guilty
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3. History Of Parole
 Rooted in 18th-century English penal practice of
indentured servitude
 From 1775 through 1856 English offenders were
sent to Australia
 Norfolk Island
 Captain Alexander Maconochie developed the
“ticket-of-leave” system
 Crofton’s conditional release system, 1854
 Dr. S.G. Howe of Boston first coined the term
parole in 1846
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4. Development Of American Parole
 First parole legislation: Massachusetts, 1837
 First parole program implemented at New York’s
Elmira Reformatory, late 1870s
 Zebulon Brockway
 In 1931, the Wickersham Commission listed four
“essential elements” of a good parole program
 In the 1970s, research found that prison
rehabilitation programs had few positive benefits
 Presently, there is increasing support for the
abolition of parole while others advocate reform
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5. The Wickersham Commission
 The Commission’s 1931 report cited four
“essential elements” of good parole
systems:
 Indeterminate sentencing laws
 Quality release preparation
 Parole officer’s familiarization with offender’s
home and environmental conditions before
offender’s release
 Sufficient staffing levels
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6. Reentry
 The process of transition that
offenders make from prison or jail to
the community
 Estimates are that nearly 2,000
offenders leave prison every day and
2 out of every 3 are rearrested within 3
years of their release
 30 percent are arrested within the first
six months.
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7. Reentry
 Responses to technical violations:
Violators of probation and parole
represent the fastest-growing category of
admissions to jail and prison, one-third
nationally, and 60 to 70 percent in some
states such as California.
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8. Reentry
 President Bush’s Second Chance Act of
2008
 Council of State Governments’ The Report
of the Re-Entry Policy Council
 Reentry issues for women
 Parole eligibility date - The earliest date on
which an inmate might be paroled
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9. Granting Parole
 Paroling authority - A person or correctional
agency (often called a parole board or parole
commission) that has the authority to grant
parole, revoke parole, and discharge from parole
 Most important factors in the decision to grant or
deny parole are the nature of the offense and
the prior criminal record
 Salient factor score - Scale developed from a
risk-screening instrument used to predict parole
outcome
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10. Types Of Parole
 Mandatory Parole - requires the correctional
authority to grant parole after the inmate
serves a specific period of time, as required
by law
 Occurs in jurisdictions using determinate
sentencing
 Most commonly used method
 Discretionary Parole – the decision to parole
rests with a parole board or parole
commission who reviews a case to determine
whether they believe the prisoner is ready to
be returned to the community
 Occurs in jurisdictions using indeterminate
sentencing
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11. Characteristics of Parolees
 Almost 2,000 prisoners each day leave prison.
About one in five leaves prison with no post
release supervision because of changes in
sentencing legislation that allow some prisoners
to “max out” (serve their full sentences) and
leave prison with no post custody supervision as
discussed previously.
 On January 1, 2010, 819,308 American adults
were on parole, down 5,526 from one year
earlier and the second year in a row that the
nation’s parole population declined.
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12. Characteristics of Parolees
 Parolee – A person who is conditionally
released from prison to community
supervision
 Women make up 12% of parolees
 Typically white, non-Hispanic male on
mandatory parole and under active parole
supervision for more than one year
 Median age of a parolee is 34 with an 11th
grade education
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13. Does Parole Work?
Fifty percent of adults leaving parole in
1990 were successful. In 2000, the rate
dipped to 43 percent.
First-time mandatory parole releases had
a higher success rate than did first-time
discretionary parole board releases but
researchers found the opposite for re –
releases.
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14. Does Parole Work?
 Rates of relapse and recidivism are high,
especially in the vulnerable period
immediately following release. In fact, two-
thirds of all parolees are rearrested within
three years, 30 percent within the first six
months of release.
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15. Does Parole Work?
 The number of parole violators returned to
prison continues to increase. Of the nearly
552,611 adults who exited parole in 2009,
185,550 (34 percent) were returned to prison
either with a new sentence (26 percent) or
revocation (71 percent) or to receive treatment
(less than 1 percent), up from 27,177 in 1980
and 160,000 in 1995. The numbers are so high
that parole failures account for a growing
proportion of all new prison admissions.
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16. Does Parole Work?
 California had the largest number of adults
on parole, followed by Texas and
Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania also had the
highest rate of parole supervision, which
means it used parole more than any other
state
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17. Can Parolees Vote?
 5.3 million people in the U.S. have lost
their right to vote as a result of a felony
conviction (disenfranchisement)
 Only Maine and Vermont do not place
any restrictions on the rights of felons
(including prisoners) to vote
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18. Arguments for and against felon
disenfranchisement
 For:
 As a matter of principle because offender
committed a felony
 States have the right to deny as added
punishment
 Sends a message about respect for the law,
and acts as a deterrent to crime
 Felons cannot be trusted to make politically
informed decisions
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19. Arguments for and against felon
disenfranchisement - Continued
 Against:
 Voting is not a privilege but a right
 Such laws are unfair to minorities who are treated
unfairly by the criminal justice system
 Not an effective form of punishment; most felons
did not vote before their incarceration
 Removing the right to vote is inconsistent with
reentry
 By taking this right from one group, which group
is next?
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20. Reentry Court
 Manages the return to the community of
individuals released from prison
 U.S. Department of Justice proposes
reentry courts have six core elements:
 Assessment and planning
 Active judicial oversight
 Case management of support services
 Accountability to the community
 Graduated sanctions
 Rewarding success
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21. Community Partnership Councils
 All sectors of society meet with parole staff
to:
 learn about parole operations and issues
 share what they learned with their communities
 generate positive publicity for parole
 A survey of Community Partnership Council
parole officers in Texas reported the need
for more treatment resources and job
assistance from the community to help their
parolees. They said this need may be
served by Community Partnership Councils.
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22. Reintegration of Offenders
 Challenges facing parolees are employment
readiness, substance abuse treatment, housing,
and health care
 Four successful programs across the U.S. that
offer life skills training and job preparation before
inmates are released and job placement, social
support, and follow-up assistance after release
 Chicago’s Safer Foundation
 Center for Employment Opportunities
 Reintegration of Offenders
 Corrections Clearinghouse
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23. Reintegration Involving Victims
 Victims can assist parole boards by
providing relevant information, offering
their experience and expertise, and
encouraging offender accountability.
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24. Abolition of Discretionary Parole
Board Release
 Opposition to parole in the 1930s resurfaced again in
the 1970s with the introduction of “just deserts.”
 Sixteen states and the federal government have
abolished discretionary parole board release from
prison by a parole board for all offenders.
 Four states have abolished discretionary parole
release for certain violent offenses or other crimes
against a person.
 Reasons for abolition include: wide disparity, appears
tough on crime, board’s closed decision-making, and
rhetoric that parole was the cause of the rising crime
problem
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25. Prisoner Reentry and Community
Policing
 The fourfold increase in the number of persons
being released each year from state and federal
prisons over the past two decades
 In spite of all the efforts being made at prisoner
reform, offenders are still leaving prison
unprepared for successful reentry
 Make contact with former prisoners part of
everyday law enforcement business
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26. Community-Focused Parole
 A process of engaging the
community so the community
engages parole
 have a mission statement the
community understands
 make parole work more visible
 build partnerships
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