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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:59 am
Time: 12:59 am
Results for parole (pennsylvania)
2 results foundAuthor: Kramer, John Title: Evaluation of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole's Violation Sanction Grid Summary: This study focuses on sanctions and recommitments for parole and technical violations among a ten-month cohort of Pennsylvania parolees. With more than 10,000 releases a year and recommitments expected to be in excess of 50% over three years, recommitments represent a significant policy arena for study, one that affects prison populations, and more importantly for this research, involves decisions by parole officers regarding the use of available sanctioning resources. This report examines these decisions by following more than 8,000 Pennsylvania offenders paroled between September 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007. Through official information compiled by the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, it examines parolee's violations of parole and the sanctions applied in response to those violations. The study is based on both quantitative and qualitative parole reports. Details: Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, 2008. 64p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 119144 Keywords: Parole (Pennsylvania)Parole OfficersParole RevocationParolees |
Author: Goldkamp, John S. Title: Parole and Public Safety in Pennsylvania: A Report to Governor Edward G. Rendell Summary: This report describes the results of a review of the public safety implications of the correctional and parole processing of offenders returning to the community that was requested by Governor Edward G. Rendell. The Governor initiated the review on September 28, 2008, in reaction to violence by persons under parole or correctional pre-release supervision that resulted in killings of police officers in Philadelphia. The purpose of the review was to identify current policies or practices that could be improved in the processing and handling of offenders returning to Pennsylvania communities after incarceration in state corrections facilities with the goal of reducing the chances that such incidents could occur again. At the same time the Governor requested this review, he also sought a temporary moratorium on all parole releases. The Parole Board then held a special executive meeting and supported the Governor‘s call for such a moratorium pending recommendations from the review. The moratorium, which became the backdrop against which this inquiry was conducted, subsequently was lifted in stages until full parole processing was restored in the early spring of 2009. The problems facing corrections and parole in Pennsylvania are not unique but are shared by many other states with large populations of offenders under correctional supervision, most of whom eventually return to the community. In general, because of the policies fostering the incarceration of large numbers of offenders during the 1970‘s, 80‘s and 90‘s, large numbers of offenders are returning to communities across the nation, many of whom may be unprepared for life outside of incarceration. For example, California has recently been confronted with court-ordered release of large numbers of inmates before expiration of their sentences in order to address serious overcrowding in its correctional institutions, posing major challenges for its parole system. The Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee conducted hearings about Pennsylvania‘s overcrowded institutions (housing 51,000 inmates in institutions with a capacity designed for roughly 44,000 persons) as recently as November 16, 2009. This has prompted a great deal of thinking and innovation focusing on ― prisoner reentry — aimed at developing ways in which successful and crime-free return to the community can be promoted by addressing a variety of needs for support services as well as by effective supervisory measures. At the same time, this development has forced reexamination of parole and other versions of supervised release nationwide to develop the capacity to deal with issues related to the return of released offenders most requiring attention. As the recent dramatic economic recession has exacerbated these and related challenges facing corrections and parole systems, the large volume of returning prisoners has highlighted the critical need for effective public safety and support strategies that will best facilitate crime-free transitions from prison to community. In short, in this time of strained resources for basic government functions, and sparked by the recent killings of police officers by persons under correctional pre-release and parole supervision, Pennsylvania, like other states, is faced with a growing need for enhanced post-incarceration transition and supervision systems. Though now taking on added importance and urgency, these challenges relating to successful prisoner reentry and public safety are longstanding and have been at the heart of correctional and parole strategies in Pennsylvania and other states for decades. The recommendations we present as a result of this inquiry are made with an awareness that violent crime among parolees falls within the larger category of violent crime generally — and that the factors contributing to crime are complex and often outside of the power of corrections and parole to affect alone. We have tried to limit the report‘s focus to formulating practical suggestions for system improvements that could help minimize threats to public safety posed by potentially violent offenders who reenter the community on parole. The scope of this inquiry is limited to the segment of the justice process that begins with admission of a convicted and sentenced offender to the custody of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and ends with termination of parole after completion of the term of incarceration. The primary focus is on returning offenders who are subject to supervision, monitoring and transitional services in the community. The focus of this inquiry‘s recommendations for improvement therefore mostly involves two key agencies of government: Corrections and Parole. The institutional relationship between corrections and parole agencies varies from state to state. In Pennsylvania both the Department of Corrections (Corrections or DOC) and the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole (Parole or PBPP) are executive branch agencies, though the PBPP is independent of Corrections, with authority by law to determine release of parole-eligible offenders from state institutions and to set conditions of that release. We would like to point out that this inquiry did not consider a particularly significant category of higher risk returning offenders — those released without parole supervision after completion of maximum sentences (unconditional or ―maximum releases). These offenders returning from prison without constraint form roughly one-fourth of all those gaining release from prison and represent an important area for policy review and crime prevention approaches. We further note that this review also did not focus on a variety of issues that are closely related to those addressed, but which do not center directly on new crimes among paroled offenders. For example, technical infractions not involving new crimes are not covered in this report. Although concern about increased potential for, or unproved involvement in criminal behavior may prompt the filing and handling of violation actions by parole agents and board members, this inquiry focused on arrests of paroled offenders for new criminal charges rather than charges of parolee misconduct that resulted solely in technical violations being lodged. Details: Philadelphia: Temple University, Department of Criminal Justice, 2010. 106p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 29, 2011 at: http://www.temple.edu/cj/news/documents/GOLDKAMPPAROLEREPORTFINAL2010.PDF Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.temple.edu/cj/news/documents/GOLDKAMPPAROLEREPORTFINAL2010.PDF Shelf Number: 122184 Keywords: Parole (Pennsylvania)ParoleesPrisoner Reentry |