Figures released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics showed the total number of U.S. residents held behind bars or on probation or parole dropped below 5.6 million for the first time since 1996.
Browsing: Probation and Parole
People jailed for committing a new crime while on parole or probation account for two-thirds of the total prison time imposed by federal and state jurisdictions—inflicting what amounts to a “double punishment,” according to a Penn State law professor.
A new app called Uptrust that connects probation officers and their clients with automatic reminders of court dates has already helped hundreds of justice-involved people avoid “technical violations” that would otherwise send them back behind bars.
Federal offenders on probation are less likely to commit new offenses. But this finding—with significant implications for federal courts—was concealed in a recent US Sentencing Commission report which misread the data, writes a Penn State law professor.
Driven by a drop in admissions for community supervision violations, state prison populations dropped by an “unprecedented” 14 percent in 2020, according to a 50-state probation and parole analysis by The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center.
A Bureau of Justice Statistics report presents a picture of an American prison system marred by recidivism. Nearly half of prisoners released in 2012, for instance, returned to prison within five years for a parole or probation violation or a new sentence.
The end of 2019 saw the lowest rate of U.S. adult residents under correctional supervision since 1991, with the largest decreases in community supervision throughout 2019, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Electronic ankle monitors are often used as a way to lower incarceration rates while seemingly giving wearers the freedom to go about their lives before a court date. Conversely, a new study shows that ankle monitors are keeping people tethered to the prison system longer than necessary.
“New York State’s parole system is not only inequitable — it is also extraordinarily costly,” says former Chief Judge Judge Jonathan Lippman in his introduction to a report issued Thursday.
Across the country, states have wide variations in policies and term lengths for probationers that offer opportunities for reform. The Pew Charitable Trusts’ latest report says states can shorten the time individuals are on probation by months, and still see no change in recidivism rates.