Parole System: Pros And Cons

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Parole is the release of an inmate from confinement after they have served a portion of their sentence, under the custody of the state. Parolees have conditions that permits reincarceration if they misbehave. Today, forty eight of the fifty states have some kind of system of parole supervision for released offenders. However, sixteen states along with the federal government eliminated parole-board release and four more states have abolished parole-board authority for certain violent offenders. For prisoners to be released on parole they must have been recommended for it and their records will be reviewed. How parole is administered any by whom is a very important concern to prison population and society. Parole is very complex procedure and …show more content…

This soon lead to corruption and controversy and was soon abandoned after World War II. Today many states have a parole board that is held by one person. Parole boards today across the country vary in operating procedures, size, selection, and independence. An example of this is New York has nineteen members on their board and three other states have three members on their board. In several states the parole-board members and the correctional system staff are closely linked. In other states the governor appoints parole-board members and they are independent of correctional institutions along with the administrators of the system. Even states that abolished parole release will operate the parole boards long in the future. This allows them to hear cases that were sentenced under previous sentencing laws. An independent board may be more objective that the correctional beureaucrcy when it comes to parole recommendations it is not a perfect system. It is argued that independent systems have little training or experience when it comes to corrections. This causes conflict with prison authorities and the

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