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 probation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label probation. Show all posts
Less is More: How Reducing Probation Populations Can Improve Outcomes
"In this new report, co-authored by Michael Jacobson, Vincent Schiraldi, Reagan Daly, and Emily Hotez, the authors discuss the consequences of the tremendous growth in probation supervision over the past several decades in the United States and argue that the number of people on probation supervision needs to be significantly downsized.
The authors find that probation has often not served as an alternative to incarceration, but rather as a key driver of mass incarceration in the United States. Despite the large numbers of individuals under supervision, probation is the most underfunded of agencies within the criminal justice system. This leaves those under supervision, often an impoverished population, with the responsibility of paying for probation supervision fees, court costs, urinalysis tests, and electronic monitoring fees among a plethora of other fines. These financial obligations have incredibly detrimental implications on the mental and economic state of those under supervision and is argued to be an unjust and ineffective public policy.
Using New York City as an example, the authors outline how the probation department there was able to see a two-thirds decline in the number of people under community supervision from 1996 to 2014. At the same time that this decline happened, the city’s rate of crime and incarceration both decreased precipitously, showing that jurisdictions can experience fewer people on probation, less crime and less incarceration."
View the Report
"In this new report, co-authored by Michael Jacobson, Vincent Schiraldi, Reagan Daly, and Emily Hotez, the authors discuss the consequences of the tremendous growth in probation supervision over the past several decades in the United States and argue that the number of people on probation supervision needs to be significantly downsized.
The authors find that probation has often not served as an alternative to incarceration, but rather as a key driver of mass incarceration in the United States. Despite the large numbers of individuals under supervision, probation is the most underfunded of agencies within the criminal justice system. This leaves those under supervision, often an impoverished population, with the responsibility of paying for probation supervision fees, court costs, urinalysis tests, and electronic monitoring fees among a plethora of other fines. These financial obligations have incredibly detrimental implications on the mental and economic state of those under supervision and is argued to be an unjust and ineffective public policy.
Using New York City as an example, the authors outline how the probation department there was able to see a two-thirds decline in the number of people under community supervision from 1996 to 2014. At the same time that this decline happened, the city’s rate of crime and incarceration both decreased precipitously, showing that jurisdictions can experience fewer people on probation, less crime and less incarceration."
View the Report
Probation Officers Face Redundancy in Plan to Replace them with Machines
"The largest UK private probation operator plans to allow offenders to report in at ATM-style electronic kiosks as part of cost-cutting plans that will involve large-scale redundancies.
Sodexo justice services, which runs six of the 21 newly privatised community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) in England and Wales, intends to introduce the kiosks so offenders can report in without having to see a probation officer.
The company’s 'new operating model' makes clear it intends to introduce 'biometric reporting' using cash machine-style kiosks.
The machines, which use fingerprint recognition technology to check identities, allow an offender to report in, to give and receive information, and to request a face-to-face meeting with a probation officer. Offenders are to be allowed to report into probation using the kiosks as a reward for good compliance with the early stages of their supervision order or prison release licence.
The company also plans to set up one centralised administrative hub supporting operational staff in face-to-face contact with offenders. The probation union Napo says this will mean some low-risk offenders being supervised via a call centre despite the majority of serious further offences being committed by offenders categorised as low-to-medium risk."
"The largest UK private probation operator plans to allow offenders to report in at ATM-style electronic kiosks as part of cost-cutting plans that will involve large-scale redundancies.
Sodexo justice services, which runs six of the 21 newly privatised community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) in England and Wales, intends to introduce the kiosks so offenders can report in without having to see a probation officer.
The company’s 'new operating model' makes clear it intends to introduce 'biometric reporting' using cash machine-style kiosks.
The machines, which use fingerprint recognition technology to check identities, allow an offender to report in, to give and receive information, and to request a face-to-face meeting with a probation officer. Offenders are to be allowed to report into probation using the kiosks as a reward for good compliance with the early stages of their supervision order or prison release licence.
The company also plans to set up one centralised administrative hub supporting operational staff in face-to-face contact with offenders. The probation union Napo says this will mean some low-risk offenders being supervised via a call centre despite the majority of serious further offences being committed by offenders categorised as low-to-medium risk."
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
Key probation services to be put out to tender
Core work, including supervising offenders and writing pre-sentence reports, to be taken out of the public sector
Harry Fletcher, of Napo, predicted the quality of work would be reduced if core probation services were put out to competition.
Harry Fletcher, of Napo, predicted the quality of work would be reduced if core probation services were put out to competition.Core probation services, including the supervision of criminals, are to be put out to competition, in the most arresting example yet of the impact of the "big society" drive on the criminal justice system.
The 35 chief officers of probation have been told they need to examine the "potential for core probation services" to be put up for competition.
Michael Spurr, the chief executive of the National Offender Management Service, has written to chief probation officers telling them: "We intend to examine a range of possible options for service improvements and different models of delivering offender services within the community.
"The aim is to create a long-term direction for probation which is consistent with the government's key objective for reform."
Traveling the Globe With Probationer Paris Hilton
By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Do celebrities get harsher treatment than others? With respect to Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, it seems that way to me.
The ink wasn't even dry on Paris Hilton's plea and sentencing documents when she flew from Las Vegas to Tokyo for legitimate and lucrative business reasons. Yet she was denied entry into Japan and told to wait at an airport hotel. She's now been asked to wait another day, while Japanese officials make up their mind whether to allow her entry. The two reasons I've seen given: They don't allow people on probation or people with drug offenses to visit Japan.
Fine, but other than the news media, how would Japan have known? It's quite unlikely the State Department notified Japan or even put an electronic note in her passport file. I doubt her plea and sentence were even entered in NCIC or criminal law enforcement databases by the time she reached Japan, and even with our government's obsession with sharing of law enforcement data, I doubt the policy extends to sharing it with Japan. [More...]
Read on...
Do celebrities get harsher treatment than others? With respect to Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, it seems that way to me.
The ink wasn't even dry on Paris Hilton's plea and sentencing documents when she flew from Las Vegas to Tokyo for legitimate and lucrative business reasons. Yet she was denied entry into Japan and told to wait at an airport hotel. She's now been asked to wait another day, while Japanese officials make up their mind whether to allow her entry. The two reasons I've seen given: They don't allow people on probation or people with drug offenses to visit Japan.
Fine, but other than the news media, how would Japan have known? It's quite unlikely the State Department notified Japan or even put an electronic note in her passport file. I doubt her plea and sentence were even entered in NCIC or criminal law enforcement databases by the time she reached Japan, and even with our government's obsession with sharing of law enforcement data, I doubt the policy extends to sharing it with Japan. [More...]
Read on...
Assessing the Effectiveness of Intermediate Sanctions in Multnomah County, Oregon
Andres F. Rengifo
Christine S. Scott-Hayward
Vera Institute of Justice, June 2008
Tom
Christine S. Scott-Hayward
Vera Institute of Justice, June 2008
In the 1990s the Department of Justice (DCJ) in Multnomah County, Oregon, initiated a series of eveidence-based reforms intended to shift resources and change its supervision approach. This study by the Vera Institute of Justice is one of a number of studies the DCJ has solicited to look at particular questions about its system. It provides an overview of the patterns and practices of adult probation and post-prison supervision, based on Vera's quantitative analysis of the use of intermediate sanctions in response to violations of probation conditions.
The full document is available in pdf on the front page of the Vera Institute at: http://www.vera.org/#
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