The procedural justice literature explains why people obey the law. However, prior research has largely neglected the implication of procedural justice in the correctional context in general and in ...parole efficacy in particular. In an attempt to bridge the propositions of procedural justice and general strain theory, this study assesses the effect of parolees’ perceived procedural injustice on their success in reentry. Using data from a longitudinal study of prisoner reentry, we investigate the nexus of procedural injustice, negative emotions, family bonds, and postrelease criminal propensity. Findings indicate that procedural injustice increases criminal propensity, and the negative emotion of depression partially mediates this relationship. We also find parolees’ family bonds totally mediate the effect of procedural injustice on criminal propensity.
Parolees experience numerous barriers that may impact successful reintegration into society. Residential instability may further add to these obstacles, as there may be limited opportunities for ...housing given their criminal history. The present study aimed to examine the impact of residential instability on suicidal ideation among parolees. Results indicated that residentially stable and unstable individuals had similar risk factors which were significantly associated with suicidality, such as age and having perceived unmet mental health needs. Other risk factors differed among the two groups, highlighting the importance of treatment and preparation for re-entry into society while in the prison setting.
Unless the views of parole officials are unpacked and understood with regard to rehabilitating offenders in correctional centres with limited resources in South Africa, there will be less effort ...devoted towards ensuring the effectiveness of the parole system. This paper captures the working experiences of the parole officials at Brits Community Corrections in South Africa with regard to the use of parole in the rehabilitation of offenders. Using a qualitative approach and an exploratory descriptive design, the study employed total population purposive sampling to ensure the inclusion of all parole officials in the study to provide their working experience. In-depth interviews that provided data saturation with four parole officials were analysed thematically, critically discussed and compared to existing literature. The major findings were that the challenges faced by parolees in the communities were the main problems preventing the successful implementation of parole services. This led to endemic frustrations among the parole officials in the execution of parole services in the Brits area. This paper recommends relevant holistic approaches as interventions to improve the parole systems in the area and improve the working experiences of parole officials.
Drawn on qualitative findings from discretionary chairpersons of parole boards in Israel, the study aims to theorize parole decision making as time–space boundary-work. Parole decision-makers were ...found to act within a hybrid professional environment that requires them to process distinct, and possibly conflicting, penal values, competencies and orientations. In order to address their professional tensions, parole decision-makers constantly negotiate their time and space, and thereby their professional identity. First, the parole decision-makers perform temporal boundary-work—conceptualizing their work and identity through qualitative-expansive time. Second, they perform spatial boundary-work—conceptualizing their work and identity through either (a) judicial space or (b) therapeutic space. This time–space work is used both to span and demarcate their boundaries in relation to other penal actors and to increase their visibility and legitimacy.
Despite being depicted as powerful actors, the work of the State's representatives in parole hearings has to date remained largely invisible. In this study, we aimed to fill this gap through a ...qualitative analysis of the oral arguments of prosecutors in 130 lifers’ parole board hearings in Israel. The findings suggest that prosecutors construct lifers’ parole hearings as an adversarial, yet asymmetrical, “boxing match.” Three themes were unveiled: Prosecutors construct the lifers as worthy of re-censure; view the lifers as solely responsible for their parole release; and construct the lifers as inherently suspicious individuals. In conclusion, prosecutors’ parole work seems to be more a defense of their shared professional identity as crime fighters than a promotion of an individualized, inclusive, and future-oriented parole decision-making process.
Using subsamples of 130 and 96 women on probation and parole, this research explores the direct effect of the supervising agent’s communication patterns on client job-seeking self-efficacy. It also ...tests for the mediating effect through client psychological reactance, which is a feeling that one’s freedoms are threatened. Agent and client reports of a conformity pattern of communication were associated with lower levels of job-seeking self-efficacy. Client reactance mediated this relationship. Agent and client reports of a conversational pattern of communication were associated with increased job-seeking self-efficacy. The results suggest that conformity-oriented communication should be avoided because of its potential to increase reactance and to promote low job-seeking self-efficacy. In contrast, conversational communication appears to have more positive effects on job-seeking self-efficacy. Findings highlight communication as a pathway through which agents can improve behavioral outcomes for women offenders searching for work.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama that mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) for youth are unconstitutional. In 2016, the Court held in ...Montgomery v. Louisiana that the ruling in Miller should be applied retroactively. Drawing from qualitative interviews with justice actors, and individuals who were sentenced to LWOP as juveniles and paroled, this article examines the implementation of Miller-Montgomery in Michigan, the factors that influence decisions to release juvenile lifers, and their reentry process. In doing so, we focus specific attention to the role of publicly appointed defense attorneys and the application of holistic defense practices to support Montgomery case mitigation and juvenile lifer reentry. Findings indicate that institutional disciplinary and programming records, emotional wellness, statements by victims’ family members, political considerations, and reentry plans are key considerations when deciding whether a juvenile lifer should be eligible for parole.
The Future of Parole Release Rhine, Edward E.; Petersilia, Joan; Reitz, Kevin R.
Crime and justice (Chicago, Ill.),
01/2017, Letnik:
46, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
American parole boards have played a critical role in the formulation and administration of states’ prison policies in recent decades—and could play an equally important part in helping end mass ...incarceration. Long neglected by academic, research, and policy communities, systems of discretionary prison release are in need of improvement, if not “reinvention.” A plan for revitalization of parole release should lay out a comprehensive and aspirational model for the future. It must address the institutional structure of parole boards, how much release discretion they are given, the substantive grounds for release decisions, the use of risk assessments in the decisional process, decision-making tools such as parole release guidelines, the requirements of fair and reliable procedures, victims’ rights at parole hearings, the need for parole supervision in some but not all cases, the intensity of parole conditions, and the length of parole supervision.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in short-term strategy shifts by criminal justice agencies, including population reductions and early release in institutional settings and restricting ...in-person check-ins in community corrections, among many others. Years into the pandemic, the impact of how local criminal justice agencies navigated these changes in practice is still coming into focus. This paper models shifts in community corrections populations in a Midwest US metropolitan community corrections agency following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using monthly population data from early 2017 to mid-2022, we employ Bayesian interrupted time-series models to describe changes in probation, parole, and supervision absconder populations over this period. The results suggest that both probation and parole populations, as well as absconders, were in decline leading up to March 2020, but then exhibited varying trends following the pandemic. Probation populations decreased markedly, while parole absconding increased.
Probation and parole officers must carefully balance law enforcement and rehabilitation goals to deliver effective treatments and behavioral controls. The tension between these two goals can create ...uncertainty regarding appropriate supervision practices. The present study summarizes results from an effort to construct community supervision practice guidelines by integrating scientific research and clinical expertise from supervision stakeholders (officers and individuals involved in the criminal legal system). Using consensus-building methods and practice frameworks, we assembled perspectives from these stakeholders via a survey. Results indicate that, while stakeholders endorse rehabilitative supervision strategies, they face several implementation challenges. Specifically, officers report that their organizations prioritize hierarchy and consistency over innovation and adaptation, which may make it difficult to move away from the longstanding use of punitive controls. Additional challenges are indicated by stakeholders' lack of discrimination between different client subpopulations and general disagreement among officers as to appropriate treatments and controls for clients classified as low risk. Further research and translation efforts are needed to help the field understand the clinical differences of subpopulations, to clarify appropriate treatments and controls for those classified as low risk, and to incorporate the perspectives of people involved in the criminal legal system into supervision practices.
•Community intervention guidelines based on the practice framework model•Integration of science and expertise in designing rehabilitation strategies•Use of consensus building methods
