Corrections Class Power Point

Making it: Supervision in the
Community
Chapter 16
Overview of the Postrelease Function
• Conditions of release:
• Restrictions on conduct that parolees must obey as a legally binding requirement of being released.
• Parole boards only release about 1/4 of inmates (65% in 1976)
• 80% of those released now under parole supervision (60% in 1960)
• No truly “clean” start is possible
• Important to remember that the experience of a former convict is almost
as stigmatizing as that of a convict, and can be more frustrating.
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Overview of the Postrelease Function (cont.)
• Community Supervision:
• Restrictions on parolees:
• Personal and material problems are staggering
• Most are unskilled or semiskilled, and have trouble finding any type of reasonable employment.
• Nearly 1/4 of parolees fail within 6 months.
• Ex-offenders move from the structured environment of the prison into a complex/temptation filled
world.
Figure 16.5 Percentage of Success After Release
from State Prison to Parole Supervision
• Revocation:
• Parole revoked for 2 reasons:
1. Committing a new crime
2. Violating conditions of parole (technical violation):
• Usually involve noncriminal conduct (ex., fail to change address)
• Most occur when parolee is arrested on a serious charge or cannot be located.

• Parole is a privilege.
• The Supreme Court requires a two-step process involving probable cause and potentially returning
the offender to prison.
• Two-stage revocation proceeding:

1. Parole board determines whether there is probable cause that a violation has occurred:
• Right to be notified of charges
• Be informed of witnesses
• Be heard
• Present witnesses
• Confront parole board witnesses
• Number of revocations is hard to determine. Within 3 years, 68% of parolees are arrested for a
new violation, and 47% are convicted of said violation.
2. Parole board decides if the violation is severe enough to warrant return to prison.
• Parole agency has several options:
• Return parolee to prison
• Note violation but strengthen supervision
• Note violation but take no action
• Highest rate of failure in first year
The Structure of Community Supervision
• Three forces influence released offender’s adjustment to free society:

1. Parole officer
• Play 2 roles, Cop & Social Worker
2. Parole bureaucracy
• Workload of parole officers is extremely high
3. Experiences of offender
• Always important to consider
• Complex web of attitudes, situations, policies, and random events
determines the outcome of the supervision process.
The Structure of Community Supervision (cont.)
• Agents of Community Supervision:

• Cop and social worker
• Two hidden conditions:
• Officers have certain expectations about how clients will behave and how to treat them:
• Parental approach
• Welfare approach
• Punitive officers
• Passive agents
• Supervision plan which states what the parole officer is going to do about his/her client’s
problems and how they are going to supervise them.
The Structure of Community Supervision (cont.)
• The Community Supervision Bureaucracy:

• Workload:
• Active vs. reduced surveillance
• Parole officers spend as much as 80% of their time at nonsupervisory work
• Philosophy and Policy

• Constraints on Officers’ Authority:
• Go along with the system
• Unwritten rules
Residential Programs
• Community correctional centers:

• A small-group living facility for offenders, especially those who have been recently released from
prison:
• Typically house between 10 & 25 offenders at a time.
• Usually provide counseling and drug treatment
• Impose strict curfews
• Residents can gradually earn a reduction in restrictions
• Idea is to provide treatment while promoting step-by-step adjustment to community life
Residential Programs (cont.)
• Work release center:

• A facility that allows offenders to work in the community during the day while residing in the
center during nonworking hours.
• Originated in Wisconsin with the 1913 Huber Law.
• Two types:
• Prisoners work during day and return at night
• Offenders work and live at home during week, return to center on weekends
The Offender’s Experience of Postrelease Life
• The Strangeness of Reentry

• Supervision and Surveillance
• The Problem of Unmet Personal Needs
• Barriers to Success:
• Civil Disabilities:
• Right to vote
• Public assistance and food stamps
• Public housing
• Driver’s licenses
• Adoptions and foster care
• Student loans
Figure 16.7 Voting Rights for Felons
The Offender’s Experience of Postrelease Life
(cont.)
• Many restrictions are statutory stemming from common law traditions of “civil death.”
• Issues regarding housing, food stamps, and childcare are some of the many issues this population
faces.
• Expungement and Pardon:
• Expungement:
• A legal process that results in the removal of a conviction from official records.
• Pardon:
• An action of the executive branch of the state or federal government excusing an offense and
absolving the offender of the consequences of the crime.
The Parolee as “Dangerous”
• More than 2/3 of states have passed sex offender notification laws:
• Notification laws seem to have heightened public discomfort
• Isolated tragedies can exaggerate the actual danger
• No correlation between numbers of parolees and crime rate
• Statutes such as Megan’s Law come out of parole violations
Figure 16.9 Crime Rate and Releases from
State and Federal Prisons, 1980–2009
The Elements of Successful Reentry
• Most important adjustments for successful reentry

• Getting substance abuse under control
• Getting a job
• Getting a community support system
• Getting a new sense of “who I am”
Postrelease Supervision
• How Effective Is Postrelease Supervision?

• Measured in terms of rates of recidivism
• Less than 1/2 of those released from prison remain arrest-free after 3 years
• Mandatory release only seems to work for property offenders
• Case management
• Overall, success of parole supervision is mixed
Postrelease Supervision (cont.)
• Evidence-based priorities for policy changes to help the parole process

include:
• Develop and use of valid risk-assessments.
• Target supervision strategies to deal with critical needs of high-risk cases.
• Creation of incentives for people who want to succeed.
• Support and help those who do reenter comply with the restrictions.
• Be sensible about revoking parole.
Incarceration Trends
Chapter18
Explaining Prison Population Trends
• 1930-1980, incarceration rate fairly stable:

• 93-139 per 100,000
• 1980:
• 200 per 100,000
• 1990:
• 389 per 100,000
• 2000-2009:
• 490 per 100,000
Figure 18.1 Incarceration Rate per 100,000
Population
Explaining Prison Population Trends (cont.)
• 5 states with highest incarceration rate:

• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Oklahoma
• Alabama
• Texas
• Federal prison system and 19 states have operated at or above capacity in
2007
• African Americans and Hispanics make up the majority of individuals in
the system
Figure 18.2 Sentenced Prisoners in State
Institutions per 100,000 Population
• 5 reasons for increase:

1. Increased Arrests and More Likely Incarceration
2. Tougher Sentencing
3. Prison Construction
• 1990-2005 – over 500 prisons built
4. The War on Drugs
5. State and Local Politics
• None of these reasons should be viewed as a single explanation: Each
contributes to the equation and some have greater impact than others.
• Study, 1971–1991:
• States with high violent crime have higher levels of imprisonment.
• States with higher revenues have higher prison populations.
• States with higher unemployment and higher percentage of African Americans have higher prison
populations.
• Study, 1971–1991:
• States with more-generous welfare benefits have lower prison populations.
• States with more conservatives have not only higher incarceration rates, but their rates grew more
rapidly than did the rates of states with fewer conservatives.
• Political incentives for an expansive prison policy transcended Democratic and Republican
affiliations.
Dealing with Overcrowded Prisons
• The Null Strategy:

• Doing nothing to relieve crowding in prisons, under the assumption that the problem is temporary
and will disappear in time.
• Opponents of incarceration support this strategy
• The Constructions Strategy:
• Building new facilities to meet the demand for prison space.
• New prison construction typically costs $75,000 per cell.
Dealing with Overcrowded Prisons (cont.)
• Intermediate Sanctions:
• Community service
• Restitution
• Fines
• Boot camp
• Home confinement
• Intensive probation supervision
• Prison Population Reduction:
• Backdoor strategies such as parole, work release, and good time can help reduce prison population
• Affects ability of correctional officials to do their work, because it

decreases the proportion of offenders in programs.
• Increases the potential for violence
• Greatly strains staff morale
• Courts have cited states for maintaining prisons so crowded that they
violate the 8th Amendment rule against cruel and unusual punishment.
Figure 18.3 Public Opinion on the Most Appropriate
Sentence for Nonserious Offenders
The Impact of Prison Crowding
• Inmates housed in large, open-bay dormitories are more likely to:

• Visit clinics and have high blood pressure
• Experience higher assault rates
• Prisons that allow less than 60 square feet per inmate typically have
higher assault rates.
Does Incarceration Pay?
• Major debate exists regarding the cost effectiveness of prisons.

• Social costs of incarcerating “drug-only offenders”
• Some believe current policies have succeeded in lowering the crime rate.
• Other possible factors:
• Shifts in law enforcement
• Economic expansion
• Decline in use of crack-cocaine
Does Incarceration Pay? (cont.)
• No definitive answer
• Need more accurate estimate of the number of crimes felons commit
• Need better method of calculating costs:
• Correctional capital
• Operating costs
• Indirect costs
• Political and moral issues
Incarceration Trends
Chapter18
Explaining Prison Population Trends
• 1930-1980, incarceration rate fairly stable:

• 93-139 per 100,000
• 1980:
• 200 per 100,000
• 1990:
• 389 per 100,000
• 2000-2009:
• 490 per 100,000
Figure 18.1 Incarceration Rate per 100,000
Population
• 5 states with highest incarceration rate:

• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Oklahoma
• Alabama
• Texas
• Federal prison system and 19 states have operated at or above capacity in
2007
• African Americans and Hispanics make up the majority of individuals in
the system
Figure 18.2 Sentenced Prisoners in State
Institutions per 100,000 Population
• 5 reasons for increase:

1. Increased Arrests and More Likely Incarceration
2. Tougher Sentencing
3. Prison Construction
• 1990-2005 – over 500 prisons built
4. The War on Drugs
5. State and Local Politics
• None of these reasons should be viewed as a single explanation: Each
contributes to the equation and some have greater impact than others.
• Study, 1971–1991:
• States with high violent crime have higher levels of imprisonment.
• States with higher revenues have higher prison populations.
• States with higher unemployment and higher percentage of African Americans have higher prison
populations.
• Study, 1971–1991:
• States with more-generous welfare benefits have lower prison populations.
• States with more conservatives have not only higher incarceration rates, but their rates grew more
rapidly than did the rates of states with fewer conservatives.
• Political incentives for an expansive prison policy transcended Democratic and Republican
affiliations.
Dealing with Overcrowded Prisons
• The Null Strategy:

• Doing nothing to relieve crowding in prisons, under the assumption that the problem is temporary
and will disappear in time.
• Opponents of incarceration support this strategy
• The Constructions Strategy:
• Building new facilities to meet the demand for prison space.
• New prison construction typically costs $75,000 per cell.
• Intermediate Sanctions:
• Community service
• Restitution
• Fines
• Boot camp
• Home confinement
• Intensive probation supervision
• Prison Population Reduction:
• Backdoor strategies such as parole, work release, and good time can help reduce prison population
• Affects ability of correctional officials to do their work, because it

decreases the proportion of offenders in programs.
• Increases the potential for violence
• Greatly strains staff morale
• Courts have cited states for maintaining prisons so crowded that they
violate the 8th Amendment rule against cruel and unusual punishment.
Figure 18.3 Public Opinion on the Most Appropriate
Sentence for Nonserious Offenders
The Impact of Prison Crowding
• Inmates housed in large, open-bay dormitories are more likely to:

• Visit clinics and have high blood pressure
• Experience higher assault rates
• Prisons that allow less than 60 square feet per inmate typically have
higher assault rates.
Does Incarceration Pay?
• Major debate exists regarding the cost effectiveness of prisons.

• Social costs of incarcerating “drug-only offenders”
• Some believe current policies have succeeded in lowering the crime rate.
• Other possible factors:
• Shifts in law enforcement
• Economic expansion
• Decline in use of crack-cocaine
Does Incarceration Pay? (cont.)
• No definitive answer
• Need more accurate estimate of the number of crimes felons commit
• Need better method of calculating costs:
• Correctional capital
• Operating costs
• Indirect costs
• Political and moral issues
Race, Ethnicity, and
Corrections
Chapter 19
The Concepts of Race and Ethnicity
• Race:
• Traditionally, a biological concept used to distinguish groups of people by their skin color and
other physical features.
• Today this concept is controversial.
• The amount of Americans with bi-racial backgrounds make looking at race biologically difficult.
• Political and social implications
The Concepts of Race and Ethnicity (cont.)
• Ethnicity:
• Concept used to distinguish people according to their cultural characteristics—language, religion,
and group traditions.
• Usually reported by subjects themselves
• Hispanics are multiethnic and multiracial
• “Hispanic” is commonly used to distinguish Spanish-speaking Americans, yet this group includes
people, black or white, from Cuba, Mexico, and other countries.
Visions of Race and Punishment
• Disparity:
• The unequal treatment of one group by the criminal justice system, compared with the treatment
accorded other groups.
• For example, 18- to 24-year-old men are arrested more frequently compared to their proportion in
the general population.
• Discrimination:
• Differential treatment of an individual or group without reference to the behavior or qualifications
of the same.
Visions of Race and Punishment (cont.)
• Differential Criminality:
• Estimated that there are 5 times more white drug users than African American ones.
• African American men are admitted to prison on drug charges 13.4 times more often than
whites.
• Social problems contribute to higher crime rates such as:
• Poverty
• Single-parent families
• Unemployment
Figure 19.1 Children in Poverty, by Race and
Ethnicity
• Self-report studies:
• An investigation of behavior (such as criminal activity) based on subjects’ responses to questions
concerning activities in which they have been engaged.
• Show that nearly everyone admits to having committed a crime during his or her lifetime, although
most are never caught
• Whites are more likely to admit to using illegal substances than African Americans
• A Racist Criminal Justice System:

• African Americans account about 13% of the population but almost 2/5 of all arrests for violent
crime and 1/4 arrests for property crime.
• War on Drugs
• Crack vs. Cocaine sentencing (1 vs. 100)
• Some say social disadvantage should be taken into account when making sentencing decisions.
• Many argue that the criminal justice system is in fact racist.
• Poor male whites (15-18) are 1/3 more likely to report they have attacked
someone or stolen something and 1/2 more likely to damage someone’s
property as African Americans.
• African American youths are more likely to be arrested for all of these crimes.
• Incarceration rates for African Americans is at least twice as high than
for whites; in some states their rate is 10 times as high.
Figure 19.3 Racial Disparity in State Prison Systems: The
Ratio of African American Incarceration Rates to White Rates
• A Racist Society:
• Can’t eliminate racism in criminal justice system because the system is embedded in a larger racist
society
• African American men with no criminal record are less likely to be hired than white men with a
criminal record
• Racial threat hypothesis:
• The belief that white fear of African Americans is least when whites are the majority but greatest
when African Americans are a substantial minority.
The Significance of Race and Punishment
• Polarization of attitudes about race

• Most people believe there are 3 solutions:
1. Open corrections system to greater participation by people who come from groups historically
disadvantaged by disparate treatment.
2. Ferret out and refuse to tolerate incidents of blatant racism in justice practices or policies.
3. Recognize that as long as racism is a force in the larger society any attempts to eradicate it from
the CJ system will have only marginal prospects for success.
Race, Ethnicity, and
Corrections
Chapter 19
The Concepts of Race and Ethnicity
• Race:
• Traditionally, a biological concept used to distinguish groups of people by their skin color and
other physical features.
• Today this concept is controversial.
• The amount of Americans with bi-racial backgrounds make looking at race biologically difficult.
• Political and social implications
The Concepts of Race and Ethnicity (cont.)
• Ethnicity:
• Concept used to distinguish people according to their cultural characteristics—language, religion,
and group traditions.
• Usually reported by subjects themselves
• Hispanics are multiethnic and multiracial
• “Hispanic” is commonly used to distinguish Spanish-speaking Americans, yet this group includes
people, black or white, from Cuba, Mexico, and other countries.
Visions of Race and Punishment
• Disparity:
• The unequal treatment of one group by the criminal justice system, compared with the treatment
accorded other groups.
• For example, 18- to 24-year-old men are arrested more frequently compared to their proportion in
the general population.
• Discrimination:
• Differential treatment of an individual or group without reference to the behavior or qualifications
of the same.
• Differential Criminality:
• Estimated that there are 5 times more white drug users than African American ones.
• African American men are admitted to prison on drug charges 13.4 times more often than
whites.
• Social problems contribute to higher crime rates such as:
• Poverty
• Single-parent families
• Unemployment
Figure 19.1 Children in Poverty, by Race and
Ethnicity
• Self-report studies:
• An investigation of behavior (such as criminal activity) based on subjects’ responses to questions
concerning activities in which they have been engaged.
• Show that nearly everyone admits to having committed a crime during his or her lifetime, although
most are never caught
• Whites are more likely to admit to using illegal substances than African Americans
• A Racist Criminal Justice System:

• African Americans account about 13% of the population but almost 2/5 of all arrests for violent
crime and 1/4 arrests for property crime.
• War on Drugs
• Crack vs. Cocaine sentencing (1 vs. 100)
• Some say social disadvantage should be taken into account when making sentencing decisions.
• Many argue that the criminal justice system is in fact racist.
• Poor male whites (15-18) are 1/3 more likely to report they have attacked
someone or stolen something and 1/2 more likely to damage someone’s
property as African Americans.
• African American youths are more likely to be arrested for all of these crimes.
• Incarceration rates for African Americans is at least twice as high than
for whites; in some states their rate is 10 times as high.
Figure 19.3 Racial Disparity in State Prison Systems: The
Ratio of African American Incarceration Rates to White Rates
• A Racist Society:
• Can’t eliminate racism in criminal justice system because the system is embedded in a larger racist
society
• African American men with no criminal record are less likely to be hired than white men with a
criminal record
• Racial threat hypothesis:
• The belief that white fear of African Americans is least when whites are the majority but greatest
when African Americans are a substantial minority.
The Significance of Race and Punishment
• Polarization of attitudes about race

• Most people believe there are 3 solutions:
1. Open corrections system to greater participation by people who come from groups historically
disadvantaged by disparate treatment.
2. Ferret out and refuse to tolerate incidents of blatant racism in justice practices or policies.
3. Recognize that as long as racism is a force in the larger society any attempts to eradicate it from
the CJ system will have only marginal prospects for success.

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Making it: Supervision in the

• Most occur when parolee is arrested on a serious charge or cannot be located.

• Two-stage revocation proceeding:

• Three forces influence released offender’s adjustment to free society:

• Agents of Community Supervision:

problems and how they are going to supervise them.

• The Community Supervision Bureaucracy:

• Parole officers spend as much as 80% of their time at nonsupervisory work

• Philosophy and Policy

• Community correctional centers:

• Impose strict curfews

• Residents can gradually earn a reduction in restrictions

• Idea is to provide treatment while promoting step-by-step adjustment to community life

• Work release center:

• The Strangeness of Reentry

• Public assistance and food stamps

• Adoptions and foster care

absolving the offender of the consequences of the crime.

• Most important adjustments for successful reentry

• How Effective Is Postrelease Supervision?

• Mandatory release only seems to work for property offenders

• Overall, success of parole supervision is mixed

• Evidence-based priorities for policy changes to help the parole process

• 1930-1980, incarceration rate fairly stable:

• 5 states with highest incarceration rate:

• 5 reasons for increase:

• The Null Strategy:

• Affects ability of correctional officials to do their work, because it

• Inmates housed in large, open-bay dormitories are more likely to:

• Major debate exists regarding the cost effectiveness of prisons.

• 1930-1980, incarceration rate fairly stable:

• 5 states with highest incarceration rate:

• 5 reasons for increase:

• The Null Strategy:

• Affects ability of correctional officials to do their work, because it

• Inmates housed in large, open-bay dormitories are more likely to:

• Major debate exists regarding the cost effectiveness of prisons.

• A Racist Criminal Justice System:

when African Americans are a substantial minority.

• Polarization of attitudes about race

• A Racist Criminal Justice System:

when African Americans are a substantial minority.

• Polarization of attitudes about race

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