Reforming Probation and Parole in the 21st Century

• NCJ Number: 196812
• Author(s): Joan Petersilia Ph.D.
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 241 pages
• Sale Source: American Correctional Association
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

After explaining the basic issues and trends in probation and parole today, this book discusses what is needed to reform probation and parole.

Abstract

Seven chapters discuss probation and intermediate sanctions in the United States. A chapter describes U.S. juvenile and adult probation data sources, explaining why this topic has received relatively little attention. Another chapter presents a historical overview of probation in the United States. Chapter 4 summarizes probation in modern sentencing practice, discussing how the probation decision is made, the preparation of the presentence investigation, and the setting and enforcing of probation conditions; organization and funding of U.S. probation departments are also described. Chapter 5 describes current probation population characteristics, with attention to the probation population increase, probationer crimes, court-ordered conditions, and supervision requirements. Remaining chapters in this section assess probation outcomes by reviewing recidivism and alternative outcomes measures, as well as outline several steps to reviving probation and achieving greater control over probationers behaviors. In Part II of the book, seven chapters address parole and prisoner re-entry in the United States. One chapter describes sources of U.S. adult parole data, followed by a chapter that discusses the early evolution of parole in the United States and its use in modern sentencing practices; this chapter reviews the dramatic changes in parole release that resulted from the Nation's skepticism about the ability of prisons to rehabilitate. A chapter describes the current parole population, and another chapter describes offenders' needs as they re-enter the community; the services available to meet these needs are profiled; the civil disabilities that apply to ex-convicts are considered as well. Remaining chapters assess parole outcomes and review parole completion and recidivism rates, followed by a discussion of some current thinking about how to reform parole. Some of the more promising parole programs are described. 282 references, sections with questions and answers, and a subject index