As detailed in this press release, "two new reports were released today – one national in scope and one focused on New York City and State — looking at probation and parole as key drivers of mass incarceration with minimal benefit to public safety or individual rehabilitation." Here is more from the release:
The reports argue that the tremendous growth of people locked up for probation and parole violations — many of which are for minor, technical violations — is financially taxing on the corrections system and should be cut in half.
The national report, Too Big to Succeed was released by the Justice Lab at Columbia University and signed by 20 of the nation’s leading corrections administrators. According to the new report, there are nearly five million adults under community corrections supervision in America (more than double the number in prison and jail). The almost four-fold expansion of community corrections since 1980 without a corresponding increase in resources has strained many of the nation’s thousands of community supervision departments, often unnecessarily depriving clients of their liberty without improving public safety.
Underfunded and with few alternatives, community corrections officers have learned to default to the most available option they have for those who violate the terms of their supervision — prison. Many are reincarcerated for nothing more than a technical violation. Regrettably, these punishments fall most heavily on young African American men....
The New York report, Less is More in New York, notes that while crime is declining in the City and jail populations have dipped below 9,000 for the first time in 35 years, only one population has increased — those in city jails for state parole violations (by 15%). And 81% of those incarcerated in city jails for parole violations are either in for technical violations, misdemeanors, or non-violent felony arrests.
As state and city leaders agree that the jail complex on Rikers Island should be closed requiring a reduction in the NYC jail population, the report argues that the solution could be reducing unnecessary incarceration of persons on parole as well as to shrink the overall parole population and focus supervision and supports on those who need it the most.
Here are the full titles of these reports and links thereto:
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