NCJ Number
101599
Date Published
1984
Length
25 pages
Annotation
To improve parole board decisionmaking under Wisconsin's special action release program, this study explored the action release program, this study explored the relationship between inmate characteristics and postrelease criminal behaviors.
Abstract
Subjects included 1,433 inmates who received discretionary parole and 1,886 who received mandatory release (after being rejected for parole) between 1980 and 1982. Subjects were followed up for 1 year after release. Results indicate that those receiving discretionary parole were much less likely to recidivate than those receiving mandatory release (15 versus 23 percent reincarceration rates). Criminal recidivism was higher among younger (under 25 years old) than older inmates and among those with previous commitment to a juvenile institution. Age at release and juvenile commitment could be used to form a four-group risk continuum: 33 percent of parolees and 37 percent of releasees were young inmates with prior juvenile commitment; only 10 percent of parolees and 16 percent of releasees who were older and without prior juvenile commitment were returned to prison for criminal activity. Findings suggest that it may be possible to increase parole grants without increasing recidivism rates by paroling some portion of the low-risk, mandatory release inmates and denying parole to inmates in the high-risk group.