Correctional Control 2018: Incarceration and Supervision by State
"The U.S. has a staggering 2.3 million people
behind bars, but even this number doesn’t capture the true scale of our
correctional system. For a complete picture of our criminal justice
system, it’s more accurate to look at the 6.7 million people under correctional control, which includes not only incarceration but also probation and parole.
The vast majority of people under correctional control are on probation and parole, collectively known as community supervision
(or community corrections). An estimated 4.5 million adults are under
community supervision, nearly twice the number of people who are
incarcerated in jails and prisons combined. Yet despite the massive
number of people under their control, parole and probation have not
received nearly as much attention as incarceration. Only with recent
high-profile cases (such as Meek Mill’s probation revocation)
has the public begun to recognize the injustices plaguing probation and
parole systems, which set people up to fail with long supervision
terms, onerous restrictions, and constant scrutiny. Touted as
alternatives to incarceration, these systems often impose conditions
that make it difficult for people to succeed, and therefore end up
channeling people into prisons and jails."
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Showing posts with label community corrections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community corrections. Show all posts
Recent Council of Europe Publications:
- Police Oversight Mechanisms in the Council of Europe States
- Compendium of Conventions, Recommendations and Resolutions Relating to Prisons and Community Sanctions Measures
- Compendium of Good Practices on the Implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings
Ontario's Probation System in Shambles, Auditor Reports
"Most of the criminals released in Ontario who are considered a very high risk to re-offend do so, even though they’re supposed to be extra-closely supervised by probation and parole officers.
The details of the way the Ministry of Community Safety doesn’t protect community safety are in a report by Ontario’s auditor-general Bonnie Lysyk...."
View the Auditor General's Report on Adult Community Corrections and Ontario Parole Board
"Most of the criminals released in Ontario who are considered a very high risk to re-offend do so, even though they’re supposed to be extra-closely supervised by probation and parole officers.
The details of the way the Ministry of Community Safety doesn’t protect community safety are in a report by Ontario’s auditor-general Bonnie Lysyk...."
View the Auditor General's Report on Adult Community Corrections and Ontario Parole Board
Community Corrections: Profiteering, Corruption and Widening the Net
"Smoke and Mirrors is a new series that dives into the details of "bipartisan prison reform" to reveal the right-wing, neoliberal carceral sleight of hand that's really at work. It asks hard questions about the content and consequences of various proposals and explores ways in which commitments to unregulated free markets, privatization and states' rights drive the agenda for a new generation of reforms that will reinforce structural racism, intensify economic violence and contribute to the normalization of a surveillance society."
See the related report: Treatment Industrial Complex: How For-Profit Prison Corporations are Undermining Efforts to Treat and Rehabilitate Prisoners for Corporate Gain
"Smoke and Mirrors is a new series that dives into the details of "bipartisan prison reform" to reveal the right-wing, neoliberal carceral sleight of hand that's really at work. It asks hard questions about the content and consequences of various proposals and explores ways in which commitments to unregulated free markets, privatization and states' rights drive the agenda for a new generation of reforms that will reinforce structural racism, intensify economic violence and contribute to the normalization of a surveillance society."
See the related report: Treatment Industrial Complex: How For-Profit Prison Corporations are Undermining Efforts to Treat and Rehabilitate Prisoners for Corporate Gain
Overcoming Barriers to Reintegration: An Investigation of Federal Community Correctional Centres
"The 2013-2014 Annual Report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator (CCI) features a special focus on the safe and timely reintegration of offenders into the community. The Office has become concerned that indicators of effective community corrections have been trending in the wrong direction in recent years. Parole grant rates are declining (20% in the last 5 years), offenders are serving longer portions of their sentence behind bars before first release, the majority of releases from federal penitentiary are now by statutory release rather than day or full parole and the number of waived or postponed parole hearings has been increasing. The Office continues to receive complaints regarding the quality of case management practices in which some inmates claim to have little or no contact with their assigned Institutional Parole Officer. Finally, the operating budgets to prepare offenders for resettlement and safely maintain them in the community have seen no new investments and are set to decline in real terms in 2014-15 and beyond."
"The 2013-2014 Annual Report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator (CCI) features a special focus on the safe and timely reintegration of offenders into the community. The Office has become concerned that indicators of effective community corrections have been trending in the wrong direction in recent years. Parole grant rates are declining (20% in the last 5 years), offenders are serving longer portions of their sentence behind bars before first release, the majority of releases from federal penitentiary are now by statutory release rather than day or full parole and the number of waived or postponed parole hearings has been increasing. The Office continues to receive complaints regarding the quality of case management practices in which some inmates claim to have little or no contact with their assigned Institutional Parole Officer. Finally, the operating budgets to prepare offenders for resettlement and safely maintain them in the community have seen no new investments and are set to decline in real terms in 2014-15 and beyond."
A Review of Population and Spending Shifts in Prison and Community Corrections
BACKGROUND
Ongoing state budget deficits have placed the centerpiece of U.S. penal policy—incarceration—under intense scrutiny. Although crime rates have been on the decline since 1992, prison populations and spending have continued to grow—spurring state policymakers to question whether resources can be better used to enhance public safety. Taking heed of research which has shown that many offenders are dealt with more effectively in the community, many states have recently adopted policies to lower prison populations by moving people who are incarcerated to less-expensive supervision in the community. The goal is not only to reduce correctional costs but also improve public safety outcomes.
In this study, the Vera Institute of Justice, in partnership with the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance
Project, set out to determine whether—in light of recent state-level policy changes and the economic recession—there have been observable shifts from prisons to community corrections between 2006 and 2010 by examining changes in (1) prison populations; (2) prison spending; (3) community corrections populations; and (4) community corrections spending.
Read on...
Ongoing state budget deficits have placed the centerpiece of U.S. penal policy—incarceration—under intense scrutiny. Although crime rates have been on the decline since 1992, prison populations and spending have continued to grow—spurring state policymakers to question whether resources can be better used to enhance public safety. Taking heed of research which has shown that many offenders are dealt with more effectively in the community, many states have recently adopted policies to lower prison populations by moving people who are incarcerated to less-expensive supervision in the community. The goal is not only to reduce correctional costs but also improve public safety outcomes.
In this study, the Vera Institute of Justice, in partnership with the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance
Project, set out to determine whether—in light of recent state-level policy changes and the economic recession—there have been observable shifts from prisons to community corrections between 2006 and 2010 by examining changes in (1) prison populations; (2) prison spending; (3) community corrections populations; and (4) community corrections spending.
Read on...
The Lesser of Two Evils? A Qualitative Study of Offenders' Preferences for Prison Compared to Alternatives
by Alisha Williams, David C. May, and Peter B. Wood
This article is available online to the U. of T. community. It is also available in print at the Centre of Criminology Library
Recent work has demonstrated that many offenders will choose to serve prison rather than any amount of a community-based sanction. This primarily quantitative research has found that offender-generated exchange rates are influenced by a wide variety of experiences and characteristics. Missing from this literature is a qualitative evaluation of why offenders might make this choice. We present qualitative data from 618 probationers and parolees to explain why those who have experienced imprisonment are less willing to serve community sanctions than their counterparts, and more willing to serve prison. Results hold implications for deterrence, recidivism, rehabilitation, and correctional policy issues.
This article is available online to the U. of T. community. It is also available in print at the Centre of Criminology Library
Recent work has demonstrated that many offenders will choose to serve prison rather than any amount of a community-based sanction. This primarily quantitative research has found that offender-generated exchange rates are influenced by a wide variety of experiences and characteristics. Missing from this literature is a qualitative evaluation of why offenders might make this choice. We present qualitative data from 618 probationers and parolees to explain why those who have experienced imprisonment are less willing to serve community sanctions than their counterparts, and more willing to serve prison. Results hold implications for deterrence, recidivism, rehabilitation, and correctional policy issues.
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