Introduction/Problem Statement
Throughout this paper I will discuss Parole in the Criminal Justice system. Parole is a term that refers to offenders who a released from prison to finish the rest of their time in the community but under supervision. A parole board typically makes the decision whether to release a prisoner or to not release him/her. They follow their own judgement and the suggestions of those who interact with the prisoner. While being out on parole the individual must follow certain rules and if he or she breaks those rules they could be sent back to prison for the remainder of their sentence. Parole is a system that is still new. Only beginning in 1944 did all jurisdictions of the United States have a type of parole (Mackenzie,
…show more content…
Parole board members are tasked with making a decision that will have a long effect on someone’s life for the next few years. Parole itself is meant to help better someone with hopes it will stop their previous criminal behavior and stop them from being sent back to prison. But there is no way to correctly predict who will reoffend or who will be successful with parole. Paul Gendreau, Tracy Little and Claire Goggin came up with a study that will hopefully predict what risk factors lead to the biggest recidivism rates. The study addresses several predictors like criminal and antisocial behavior history, age/gender/race and family factors (Gendreau, Little, & Goggin,1996, p 575). This study did not address if anyone was on parole, but it is safe to assume that not all members of this study had maxed out of prison. But the study did not clarify it they were max outs or parolees; it was just looking at recidivism. Research on recidivism rates is common but going into depths and looking at the background of the offenders is not. The researchers wanted to answer questions on what predictor is more expected to predict recidivism and the differences between measures of risk factors. For one to go into depth on recidivism, they must look at previous studies and that is what Gendreau, Little and Goggin did. The criteria to be accepted into this study was that the previous study had to have previous data on the offender, …show more content…
The members are often faced with making a life changing decision and one cannot help but wonder how they come to their decision. Joel M Caplan has a journal article that talks about the factors that can affect parole. In this article he talks about how “despite guidelines, parole release decisions remained irregularly applied and were primarily a function of institutional behavior, crime severity, criminal history, incarceration length, mental illness, and victim input” (Caplan, 2007, p 16). A problem with parole boards are what truly makes them capable of releasing someone. Are all the members qualified to properly asses a person? Caplan’s study talks about how mental illness is one of the factors that can affect the parole boards decision. If one is not a psychiatrist or psychologist, they cannot truly digest the issues a person has when they are living with a mental illness. But it is known that having a mental illness can negatively affect whether an inmate is released or not. The next thing in the study is the victims input. Victim input statements can have a positive or negative effect for an inmate, most of the time it is negative. At times the input statements have an impact on the decision. The parole board makes up their mind strictly off that statement and does not give the inmate a chance to speak on it or they will not listen to the
Without proper motivation, many inmates may lose sight of their overall goal to improve their behavior. However, for the safety of the public, the requirements for parole should be strict enough to allow only the rehabilitated individuals out so there are less chances of violent re-offenders within the public. These constraints should serve only to filter out dangerous individuals, and should be flexible enough to provide the hope necessary to benefit offenders who are ethically ready to enter the general public. Furthermore, having the parole available to those who deserve it increased the overall compliance of inmates within prisons. Everyone deserves a second chance and probation should not serve to deprive offenders of that.
Prisons and correctional facilities in the United States have changed from rehabilitating people to housing inmates and creating breeding grounds for more violence. Many local, state, and federal prisons and correctional facilities are becoming more and more overcrowded each year. If the Department of Corrections (DOC) wants to stop having repeat offenders and decrease the volume of inmates entering the criminal justice system, current regulations and programs need to undergo alteration. Actions pushed by attorneys and judges, in conjunction current prison life (including solitary confinement), have intertwined to result in mass incarceration. However, prisoner reentry programs haven’t fully impacted positively to help the inmate assimilate back into society. These alterations can help save the Department of Corrections (DOC) money, decrease the inmate population, and most of all, help rehabilitate them. After inmates are charged with a crime, they go through the judicial system (Due Process) and meet with the prosecutor to discuss sentencing.
Sentencing is the process by which people who have been found guilty of offending against the criminal law have sanctions imposed upon them in accordance with that particular law. The sentence of the court is the most visible aspect of the criminal justice system’s response to a guilty offender. In Tasmania, the Sentencing Act 1997 was enacted to amend and consolidate the law relating to the sentencing of offenders. The crime rate in Tasmania is lower than it was 10 years ago but higher than it was 20 years ago. In the Australian context, Tasmania is below the national average of recorded crimes for the crimes of robbery, burglary and motor vehicle theft.
from arrest through parole, rather than the result of the activities at any single phase. Addressing
Zhang, S. X., Roberts, R. E. L., & Callanan, V. J. (2006). Preventing parolees from returning to prison through community-based reintegration. Crime & Delinquency, 52(4), 551-571.
In order to study the past, present and future implications of the probation and parole system, I had to study the history of both. I will begin with the history of probation and then talk about the history of parole. I will also talk about how probation and parole work in the present and how and what will happen to both probation and parole in the future.
...niors who brought us into this generation. We deserve to be protected as much as any other human race. Our tax dollars spent on housing inmates are a lot cheaper for us to pay when one considers the cost of irreparable pain and suffering, of a victim who falls prey to a parolee who had no intention of reversing his or her former lifestyle and recommitted their life to crime. One cannot put a price tag on scarred lives. It would be worth every penny to keep these criminals behind bars until they have completed their full sentences, if it meant even saving one innocent life, or sparing someone an unforgettable damaging experience. In conclusion, parole serves to benefit the inmate who is seeking his or her freedom, while society seldomly benefits from progress or efforts implemented by parolees in the community. We must understand that parole is a privilege, not a right. We must take into consideration that if almost half of the population that is released on parole returns to prison; parole is not working and should be abolished. Law abiding citizens have earned their right to freedom, and criminals have earned their right to confinement, and should remain that way, as sentenced.
We as a society have been forced to think that everyone in jail deserves what they get, we over look the fact that some have a mental illness that they can’t control over their actions .Taken all we have learned, this information has let me see what goes on, not only in jail, but in society. In this article it talks about people who have mental illness being treated improperly in jail and the rate of suicides is high do to the fact that people are not able to care for himself and feel that they do not belong there. When looking at videos in class I was able to understand why some people do what, some people hurt others and themselves without their control. The main issue of the article is that people with mental illnesses are being sent to jail for crimes that they may not have control over as they are sent to jail they are treated inappropriate by other inmates and guards that don't know how to handle them. The fact that some inmates ha...
There are many different alternatives to end prison overcrowding in prisons. The system of parole is one way that contributes the this issue. When individuals are release on parole it creates growth with in expensesand resources. Supivisors continue to establish new ways to control these issues. Many would agree that some incarcerated individuals should have stricter conditions and around the clock supervision.
The data gathered in the Teplin, Abram & McClelland (1994) research was conducted in the Cook county jail in Chicago during a six year period, using interview techniques during the intake process of 728 inmates. They then tracked the participants over the six years by monitoring their rap sheets. What sets this research apart from the others is that they utilized the population of a jail versus a prison. Typically, once in prison, the time spent there is long whereas in jail, the incarceration time is usually much shorter as the inmates are in jail for lesser crimes or are awaiting trial. In any case, there is a larger turnaround and more opportunity to obtain diverse long term data.
Prior to its inception, parole was clearly not an option for correctional practitioners because of the neoclassical long-term sentencing of the early twentieth century. Earliest concepts of parole were highly criticized and thought to impair judicial sentencing power and raise concern of how prisoners were selected for release. Parole was also criticized during the early eighteenth and late nineteenth centuries for failing to protect the public and lack of community supervision involved.
What is the purpose of granting probation and parole? Depending on the type of sentence, once an inmate has become eligible they can be granted parole if they have followed the rules of the institution, it does not depreciate the seriousness of the offense, and does not endanger society. The purpose of releasing a convicted felon into society again is relatively obvious, such as allowing the freedom to remain in a community or maintaining contact with family and friends, it also provides the guidance to attend treatment programs, maintain employment, pay restitution, the cost is considerably lower than being incarcerated, but ultimately allowing the offender to become a law-abiding citizen (Carlie, M.K., 2002). Probation and parole stipulate
Prison was designed to house and isolate criminals away from the society in order for our society and the people within it to function without the fears of the outlaws. The purpose of prison is to deter and prevent people from committing a crime using the ideas of incarceration by taking away freedom and liberty from those individuals committed of crimes. Prisons in America are run either by the federal, states or even private contractors. There are many challenges and issues that our correctional system is facing today due to the nature of prisons being the place to house various types of criminals. In this paper, I will address and identify three major issues that I believe our correctional system is facing today using my own ideas along with the researches from three reputable outside academic sources.
Parole is the release of a prison inmate prior to the end of their sentence by a parole board appointed by the governor, which the parolee is supervised by a parole officer. So in my reflection I will discuss how parole laws change, felons being able to rent apartments, and how parolee's are kept in the dark about the changes made and how we can fix it.
Parole and Probation have several advantages when it comes to managing offenders. When well implemented, they can be both effective and efficient as a way of dealing with offenders. Given the fact that the main role of the correctional systems is not to punish but to correct and reform, it is necessary to identify offenders who are worthy of being given a second chance to make sure that they are given a better environment to reform as opposed to sending them to prison. Apart from being an effective way to manage some types of offenders, parole and probation can help in managing prison population. When there are too many in people in prison, this leads to too much use of public funds and reduced productivity in the society. Therefore, probation