SUPERVISION REGIMES,RISK, AND OFFICIAL REACTIONS TO PAROLEE DEVIANCE*

Parolee deviance has emerged as a central issue in policy debates about crime and punishment in American society as well as in scholarship on “mass incarceration.” Although the prevailing approach to studying parolees conceives of parole violations as outcomes of individual propensities toward criminal behavior (i.e., criminogenic risk), we consider how indicators of individual risk and characteristics of formal social control systems combine to account for reported parole violations. Using data on California parolees, we examine the effects of parolees’ personal characteristics, their criminal histories, and the social organization of supervision on parole violations. We advance the notion of a “supervision regime”—a legal and organizational structure that shapes the detection and reporting of parolee deviance. Three components of a supervision regime are explored: 1) the intensity of supervision, 2) the capacity of the regime to detect parolee deviance, and 3) the tolerance of parole officials for parolee deviance. We find that personal characteristics and offense histories are predictive of parole violations. However, we also find that introducing supervision factors reduces the effects of offense history variables on violation risk, suggesting that the violation risks of serious, violent, and sexual offenders are partially explainable through the heightened supervision to which they are subject. In addition, we find that supervision intensity and tolerance are generally predictive of violation risk. Capacity effects are present but weak. We conclude with a discussion of how the supervision regimes concept illuminates the gap between macro‐ and micro‐analyses of social control.     

“BACK-END SENTENCING” AND REIMPRISONMENT: INDIVIDUAL,ORGANIZATIONAL, AND COMMUNITY PREDICTORS OF PAROLE SANCTIONING DECISIONS*

An understudied contributor to the massive growth of American incarceration is an increase in the practice of reimprisoning parolees through parole board revocations—now referred to as “back-end sentencing.” To conduct the analyses outlined in this article, we use data from the California Parole Study to analyze the effects of three clusters of factors (parolees' characteristics, organizational pressures, and community conditions) on these sentences. Our analyses are informed by theories that have been used to explain “front-end” (court) sentences, which center on the focal concerns of social-control agents, labeling, and racial threat. Our results indicate that status characteristics—race/ethnicity and gender—affect the likelihood that criminal parole violators are reimprisoned. Moreover, certain “pivotal categories” of parolees—registered sex offenders and those who have committed “serious” or “violent” offenses—are much more likely to be returned to prison than others. Organizational pressure (prison crowding) also affects the likelihood of reimprisonment. Communities' political punitiveness affects the likelihood that technical violators are reimprisoned and that serious or violent offenders are reimprisoned for criminal violations. In this article, we use these findings to consider ways that mass incarceration is driven by both top-down policies as well as bottom-up organizational and community forces.     

Program Evaluation in the Context of Supervision Regime Change: Motivational Interviewing in Colorado

This study assesses the effectiveness of an evidence-based counseling strategy employed by Colorado parole officers called Motivational Interviewing (MI), which aims to reduce parolee recidivism. I employ a quasi-experimental research design in which the caseloads of MI-trained officers are divided into two sub-samples: parolees supervised before the achievement of MI certification and parolees supervised after certification. Regression analyses show that MI is associated with recidivism reduction, but this relationship would not have been revealed without accounting for a high-profile crime that interrupted the study period—the murder of the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections by a high-risk parolee that had absconded from supervision. This crime caused a public relations crisis for the parole agency, which responded by lowering tolerance for misconduct. This reduction in tolerance increased recidivism rates among parolees in Colorado, obscuring the effect of MI on parole outcomes. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.     

Collaborative behavioral management: integration and intensification of parole and outpatient addiction treatment services in the Step’n Out study

Integration of community parole and addiction treatment holds promise for optimizing the participation of drug-involved parolees in re-entry services, but intensification of services might yield greater rates of technical violations. Collaborative behavioral management (CBM) integrates the roles of parole officers and treatment counselors to provide role induction counseling, contract for pro-social behavior, and to deliver contingent reinforcement of behaviors consistent with contracted objectives. Attendance at both parole and addiction treatment are specifically reinforced. The Step’n Out study of the Criminal Justice–Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJ-DATS) randomly allocated 486 drug-involved parolees to either collaborative behavioral management or traditional parole with 3-month and 9-month follow-up. Bivariate and multivariate regression models found that, in the first 3 months, the CBM group had more parole sessions, face-to-face parole sessions, days on which parole and treatment occurred on the same day, treatment utilization and individual counseling, without an increase in parole violations. We conclude that CBM integrated parole and treatment as planned, and intensified parolees’ utilization of these services, without increasing violations.     

Supervision Intensity and Parole Outcomes: A Competing Risks Approach to Criminal and Technical Parole Violations

Recent scholarship about parole supervision indicates that higher supervision intensity is associated with an increased risk of parole violations. However, parole violations can take many forms—some minor and some serious—and theory suggests that supervision intensity might have differential effects depending upon the type of violation. We use “competing risks” survival models to identify supervision effects on five types of parole violations among 79,082 individuals released from prison in California: absconding, technical violations, drug use, violent offenses, and sexual offenses. We find that supervision effects are strongest for absconding violations. Past sexual offending also triggers significant supervision effects for technical violations, drug use violations, and violent violations. We conclude that parole violation patterns are influenced by parolee behaviors, the amount of attention the state is paying to those behaviors, and official markers of criminal dangerousness that are attached to particular parolees.     

Women in parole: respect and rapport

Although the number of females in law enforcement has increased in recent years, research suggests that the uniquely gendered contributions of females are minimized in favor of traditional modes of law enforcement, emphasizing physical presence, authoritative commands, and demonstrative control. This research examines women in parole, using in-depth interviews with a small convenience sample of female parole agents in California. Participants discussed their experiences as parole agents from the perspective of women in a predominantly male occupation. Overwhelmingly, they emphasized traditionally associated female traits of intuition, verbal communication, and relationships, over physical tactics. Participants emphasized the importance of building respect and rapport with parolees in multiple contexts, including in the parolees' homes, with the families of parolees, and at parolees' places of employment. Participants suggested that this approach ensures their personal safety and enhances parolee compliance, especially when considering their subjective account of experiences by male parole agents.     

Psychiatric morbidity in murder and attempted murder crime convicts: a Turkey study

In the present, the morbidity of psychiatric disorders of homicide/attempted homicide crime convicts imprisoned in Turkey, Sivas maximum security prison was investigated. Seventy imprisoned homicide/attempted homicide crime convicts included in this study. Sociodemographic information form, structured clinical interview for DSM-IV Axis-I disorders and structured clinical interview for DSM-III-R personality disorders applied to the participants. Most commonly diagnosed disorders among those convicts were current Axis-I disorders, depressive disorders (7.1%) and anxiety disorders (5.7%). Among Axis-I disorders, the most diagnosed one was the substance use disorders (45.7%). The most diagnosed Axis-II disorder was found as to be antisocial personality disorder (48.6%). The rate of convicts who were diagnosed as having both Axis-I and Axis-II disorders was 51.4%. The most prevalently accompanying lifetime Axis-I disorders to antisocial personality disorder with respect to Axis-I, and Axis-II comorbidity was substance use disorders. As a result, it was thought that the substance use disorders and antisocial personality disorder among the homicide/attempted homicide crime convicts were the most prevalent lifetime psychiatric disorders.     

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A DEFINITE SENTENCE PAROLE PROGRAM

With the currently available evidence suggesting the failure of the treatment modality in corrections. parole systems throughout the United States have been the object of increasing criticism. This criticism is usually focused primarily at the indeterminate sentence and discretionary release to parole supervision, often considered integral components of a parole system. In this study, a parole system was examined that operates with definite sentencing and relatively less emphasis on discretionary release decision-making. The parole supervision aspect of this system was found to reduce markedly the post-release criminal activity of parolees as compared with a control group of discharges released from the same institutions, but not to parole supervision.     

Revocation by consent: The United States Parole Commission's expedited revocation procedure

This article examines the United States Parole Commission's development and use of an expedited revocation procedure for parole violations not involving serious new felony offenses. The majority of parole revocation proceedings involve charges of administrative violations (such as alcohol abuse, drug use, or failure to report) or misdemeanor offenses, and most parolees charged with such violations admit them. When there is no dispute as to the charged violation, the sole issue is the determination of the appropriate sanction.In 1996, the commission began a pilot project designed to expedite the processing of parole violations involving administrative, misdemeanor, and lesser felony charges. Certain alleged parole violators were given the option of waiving the right to a revocation hearing, acknowledging responsibility for the charged violation, and accepting a specified revocation penalty determined by the commission on the basis of the case record. The goal was to conserve commission resources without negatively affecting the due process rights of the alleged parole violator or the integrity of the guideline system used to sanction parole violations. In 1998, the commission incorporated the expedited revocation procedure developed in the pilot project into its permanent regulations. By FY 2003, expedited revocation determinations accounted for 40 percent of all commission revocation actions. The savings generated by the expedited revocation procedure allowed the commission to devote more resources to conducting revocation hearings involving more serious and/or contested charges.     

Justice by Other Means: Venue Sorting in Parole Revocation

We consider the factors that shape venue sorting, the process by which a legal case can be handled through different organizational arrangements with distinct procedures, institutional cultures, and sanctioning constraints. The empirical area for our investigation of venue sorting is California's parole revocation system, in which parolees accused of new crimes can be returned to prison by either criminal courts or the parole board. We find that seriousness of the alleged offense partially predicts the venue through which parolees are sanctioned. However, venue sorting is further explained by decision makers' perceptions of parolee threat, as well as concerns about organizational efficiency and legitimacy. We conclude by discussing how these findings may relate to the general phenomenon of venue sorting across a range of legal situations.     

ASSESSING LENGTH OF INSTlTUTIONALIZATION IN RELATION TO PAROLE OUTCOME

This study assesses the relative impact of different lengths of imprisonment upon parole outcome, for narcotic law violotors, while holding other factors constant. Three alternative procedures for measuring association (r, ø and r_t) were each used in parallel base expectancy analyses on the same data base. The study group consists of 929 narcotic law violators who were paroled in 50 jurisdictions. Parole performance ws derived after a twe-year follow-up period The 1968 parolees were used to develop offender risk ratings. These ratings were applied to 1969 parolees to determine whether they would be associated with parole outcome in a new sample. The three methods worked about the same for developing offender risk ratings. Once personal characteristics of offenders were taken into considemtion, the number of months served had no consistent relationship to parole outcome. This remained true for all three parallel techniques used.     

PAROLEES' PERCEPTION OF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM

The parolees in this sample viewed the police rather negatively, were reluctant to label contacts with the police as harassment, and experienced a great deal of pluralistic ignorance about the extent of the police harassment of ex-offenders. They also had a very negative opinion of the courts and lawyers. When asked general questions about the courts and police harassment, blacks responded more negatively than whites; but when asked about their personal experiences with these organizations, no racial differences were found. Those interviewed were somewhat positive toward the parole system and very positive toward their parole agents. Possibly this is because the agents employ a strategy of ingratiation in that they do not enforce all of the existing rules, or possibly it is because the Illinois parole agents are doing a good job of being counsellors rather than policemen. This study also found: (1) on opinions of the police and the courts, the black-white differences which have been found in the community were also found here; namely, blacks were more negative than were whites. (2) On opinions of lawyers and the parole system, no black-white differences existed among respondents. (3) There was no evidence of a disconfirmed expectancy effect; that is, in no case was there more negativity among white parolees than among black due to whites' higher expectations of the justice system.     

Does Parolee Drug Testing Influence Employment and Education Outcomes? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment with Noncompliance

Despite the ubiquity of drug testing in criminal justice settings, there is little experimental evidence suggesting that testing reduces drug use or engenders pro-social behavior. This paper estimates the effect of parolee drug testing on labor and education outcomes with data from a randomized experiment involving 1,958 young parolees. It provides the first estimates in the literature suggesting that drug testing with graduated sanctions can improve short-run employment and education outcomes for parolees. After controlling for parole office fixed effects, juvenile criminal history, and a host of other covariates, the analyses suggest that parolees randomly assigned to testing are 6–8 percentage points (∼11%) less likely to be unemployed and not in school for the month following release to parole when compared to those assigned to the no-testing condition. Racially- and ethnically-stratified analyses find that Hispanics assigned to testing are 10–13 percentage points (∼22%) less likely to be unemployed and not in school, while the estimated coefficient for Blacks is statistically insignificant and hovers around zero. Analyses that use instrumental variable techniques to account for noncompliance by parole officers yield local average treatment effects that are almost twice as large as the intention-to-treat effects.

The clinician–patient working alliance: is it a significant predictor of psychiatric medication adherence in a sample of recently released parolees?

Persistent psychiatric symptoms can serve as a major barrier to the successful reintegration of parolees with mental illness. Thus, it is important to identify factors that might impact their mental health recovery, such as low adherence to their treatment regimen. The strength of the clinician/patient working alliance has been found to be significantly associated with psychiatric medication adherence in prior research, but this relationship has not been assessed in a parolee population. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine if patient-rated working alliance was a significant predictor of low psychiatric medication adherence while taking into account alcohol/illegal drug use, age, and ethnicity in a sample of recently released parolees with mental illness (N = 49). Patient-rated working alliance, age, and ethnicity were not significant predictors of low adherence. Alcohol/illegal drug use during the follow-up period was associated with a significantly increased likelihood of meeting the criteria for low medication adherence (OR = 8.36; 95% CI = 1.60, 43.66). While working alliance was not found to be a significant predictor of medication adherence in this study, further research is needed to examine how substance misuse impacts the clinician–patient working alliance in this population.     

假释撤销条件比较研究

撤销假释是对假释犯不遵守假释条件的惩罚方式之一。罪犯在假释考验期内再犯新罪应当不分犯罪性质、罪过形式和刑罚轻重,一律撤销假释。在假释考验期内,发现罪犯尚有漏罪,不应撤销假释,而是应根据漏罪的具体情况,分别处理。对于假释期间违反应当遵守的假释条件一律撤销假释的规定是不合理的。只有对情节严重的违反假释条件的行为,才应当撤销假释。     

Sex and parole: A comparison of male and female parolees

Male and female parolees released in 1970 with a two-year follow-up were compared on three basic factors: personal attributes, time served, and parole outcome. The two sexes were substantially different in five commitment offenses, prior prison sentences, age at admission to confinement from which paroled, and alcohol and drug involvement; they were relatively similar in the proportion of prior non-prison sentences. Women, on the average, serve less time in prison before parole than men. The proportion successfully continued on parole is the same for both sexes.     

Coerced work during parole: Prevalence,mechanisms, and characteristics

Coerced work on parole occurs when people are required to work under the threat of criminal legal repercussions. In the face of barriers to “good” work for people after prison, coercion helps to funnel parolees into positions at the bottom of the labor market. Parolee workers in these positions experience issues common to precarious, low-wage work (low pay, hazardous working conditions, and labor law violations), as well as heightened vulnerability to predatory employers and exposure to parole-prohibited activities. Because of the threat-backed requirements to work, however, parolees must choose to either accept this “bad” work or face potential sanctions. Using mixed-methods, including a novel form of respondent-driven sampling I call “Hybrid-RDS,” this article documents the prevalence of coerced work for people on parole in Los Angeles County, identifies the mechanisms through which coercive work operates, and illustrates the problematic employment conditions of coerced work after prison.     

“A summary of parole rules—Thirteen years later”: Revisited thirteen years later

Arluke conducted two surveys of American paroling authorities, thirteen years apart, in 1956 and 1969. He summarized and described the standard conditions or rules of parole then in force in America. His general conclusions to both surveys were that parole rules were too numerous to be of real value, that many were unrealistic and unenforceable, and that the basic rules were not uniform throughout the states.In summer 1981, thirteen years after Arluke's second study, his survey was replicated. Copies of the standard parole conditions imposed on parolees of all fifty states and of the federal and District of Columbia jurisdictions were received and summarized. Many of Arluke's conclusions from his 1956 and 1969 summaries are echoed in this study.     

The factors associated with criminal recidivism in Finnish male offenders: importance of neurocognitive deficits and substance dependence

Neurocognitive deficits and psychiatric disorders are often brought up as risk factors of recidivism. In this study, we investigated how neurocognitive and academic deficits and psychiatric disorders (including substance dependence) are associated with criminal recidivism and prison career among male offenders. In a health survey of Finnish prisoners, 72 sentenced male prisoners were examined in Turku prison using a neurocognitive test battery and psychiatric assessment including a standardized psychiatric interview (SCID-I, II). The neurocognitive and academic tests were chosen to assess domains of cognitive functioning and reading, spelling and mathematical skills. Our results showed that the combination of neurocognitive deficits and substance dependence was connected to recidivism. Axis I diagnosis (major mental disorders) and substance dependence were connected with neurocognitive and academic deficits. Moreover, first-time offenders had fewer neurocognitive deficits and Axis I disorders, less substance dependence and fewer personality disorders than those with several convictions. Rehabilitation of cognitive functions and academic skills, along with intervention for mental health problems and substance dependence could help to prevent the unfavourable circle of criminal career.     

Recidivism and the Propensity to Forgo Parole Release

This study investigates whether inmates who are unconditionally released at the end of their sentence because they opt out of the parole process could potentially benefit from community supervision. This research was conducted in response to a recently passed law in the state of New Jersey that targets this group for a mandatory six-month term of parole. The study uses propensity scores to match this group to discretionarily released parolees in order to simulate random assignment. Results indicate that those who voluntarily forgo parole consideration are significantly less successful after release according to several measures of recidivism, including rearrests, reconvictions, and community tenure. However, between-group differences are small. Findings suggest that some form of supervision may be beneficial for this group, but likely not in the fashion that is explicated in the current law.