In this paper, I analyze the effect of parole on reentry and challenge the dominant governmental approach to post-release reentry. One of the features of current reentry policy is that many states rely on their parole or post-prison supervision agencies to provide post-release reentry services. In the paper, I argue that the changing nature of parole supervision over the last forty years, specifically the shift from a casework approach to a surveillance approach, should lead policymakers to rethink this approach. Relying on interviews I conducted with people on parole in New York City as well as prior research on parole outcomes, I examine the effect of parole on reentry. Jeremy Travis has argued that reentry has two goals — promoting public safety and promoting reintegration of former prisoners. I conclude that parole fails at both of these goals and in fact can sometimes hinder the reentry process. Accordingly, I argue that parole agencies should not be providing post-release reentry services and suggest an alternative approach for states to consider. In particular, I suggest that reentry outcomes could be improved by separating the surveillance and monitoring aspects of parole from its reentry aspects.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1997435_code114026.pdf?abstractid=1997435&mirid=1&type=2

Regresión a segundo grado: causas y consecuencias

The Failure of Parole: Rethinking the Role of the State in Reentry

/pdf/regresion-a-segundo-grado-causas-y-consecuencias-126xdwa7pp.pdf

INTRODUCTION Modern sentencing jurisprudence and punishment theory have largely overlooked issues raised by parole supervision and revocation. Yet parole is an integral dimension of the criminal justice system; today, nearly eighty percent of all prisoners are released into the community under some form of parole supervision. (1) Importantly, parole supervision not only places conditions on a parolee's liberty, it also provides administrative agents of the criminal justice system--not judges or juries--the opportunity to re-incarcerate the parolee. Parole revocation has the effect of retroactively imposing longer prison terms and periods under community supervision for the conviction offense. This form of sentencing--labeled by some as "back-end sentencing" to reflect its placement within the criminal justice system as well as its limited exposure to public and judicial scrutiny--has gained wide popularity in the last two decades. (2) Between 1980 and 2000, when the overall prison population increased fourfold, the parole population returned to prison increased sevenfold. (3) An analysis of the purposes and policy of sentencing and punishment--deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and retribution--has yet to be applied to the parole revocation context* Incarceration as a result of a parole violation is not understood as a form of punishment in and of itself, or even as a sentencing enhancement. Instead, it is viewed as a reinstatement of the original sentence. (4) Yet characterizing re-incarceration for parole violations in this way reflects an under-inclusive and over-simplified understanding of the parole revocation process as well as punishment more generally. Parole revocation that results in re-incarceration or other restrictions on a parolee's liberty is designed to punish the parolee for the new violation--not the underlying conviction, despite the fact that it is the conviction offense that establishes the authority of parole administrators to revoke parole and re-incarcerate. Moreover, the current practice of parole revocations and returns to prison fundamentally alters the original sentence imposed by the judge and supported by the facts found by the jury. Parole violations affect not only the period of incarceration but also the duration of parole supervision, and therefore may ultimately increase the duration of custodial or community supervision beyond the scope of the sentence originally conceived of by the judge, or may retroactively impose the maximum sentence. Instead, as Jeremy Travis has suggested, it is our deeper impulse to create distinctions between us and them--the demonization of criminals--that supports an understanding of parole revocation only in terms of the original conviction. (5) Such an understanding thereby justifies additional punishment in the absence of public scrutiny and judicial oversight. Travis characterizes the parole revocation process as a system of sentencing, which he has labeled back-end sentencing. He acknowledges that "the process of adjudicating parole violations is recognized as flowing from the original convictions and sentence." (6) However, he argues that "the conceptual and operational similarities between the two systems are ... so compelling that ... there should be little hesitation to call the process of adjudicating parole violations a form of sentencing." (7) These similarities between front-end and backend sentencing include: state enforcement agencies to detect violations of rules and laws; arrest and detention for those suspected of infractions; a neutral adjudicative entity (judge and jury or parole judge); an opportunity to present a defense through an adversarial process; and a determination of guilt and the imposition of sanctions, which can include the deprivation of liberty. Travis' understanding of parole revocation as a sentencing regime supports the underlying premise of this Note's inquiry--that recent sentencing jurisprudence should be applied to parole revocation hearings and back-end sentencing more generally. …

Policing Parole: The Constitutional Limits of Back-End Sentencing

La presente aportacion discute si el sistema penologico espanol esta suficientemente adaptado a las recomendaciones del Consejo de Europa relativas al sistema de sanciones alternativas a la prision. Se parte de la premisa que la armonizacion de las legislaciones europeas en materia penologica deberia basarse en el cumplimiento de los principios de la politica criminal europea, puesto que esta supone un desarrollo de los derechos humanos en el ambito de las sanciones penales. El articulo procede estableciendo los dos principios basicos de la politica criminal europea: concebir la prision como ultima ratio y disponer de un sistema efectivo de sanciones alternativas a la prision, que constituya la respuesta normal frente a la comision de una infraccion penal. A continuacion se desarrollan estos principios y se muestra su incumplimiento por parte de la legislacion y la practica espanolas. En el trabajo se realizan diversas propuestas para conseguir que nuestro sistema de sanciones alternativas se adapte a los postulados europeos

/pdf/la-politica-criminal-europea-en-materia-de-sanciones-2ylb3diczo.pdf

La política criminal europea en materia de sanciones alternativas a la prisión y la realidad española : una brecha que debe superarse

La recerca aborda els mecanismes de transicio entre la preso i la vida en llibertat i, particularment, el paper que aquests juguen en els processos de desistiment del delicte. Centrant-se en poblacio masculina condemnada a preso per delictes patrimonials i/o contra la salut publica, la recerca vol identificar les narratives de desistiment i persistencia en l'activitat delictiva, i coneixer com determinats factors externs contribueixen a la construccio d'aquestes narratives. Aquests factors externs son concebuts com a punts d'inflexio que poden propiciar el canvi, i estan relacionats tant amb allo tractat i viscut dins la preso com amb els suports i vincles existents en la comunitat on es desemboca. Aixi mateix, aquests processos de transicio es contextualitzen tant en el marc d'una trajectoria passada (familiar, formativa-laboral, delictiva i penitenciaria) com tambe en la fase del cicle vital en que hom se situa, en tant que aquests dos eixos delimiten, en bona mesura, l'estructura d'oportunitats i els marcs de referencia de la persona al sortir de la preso. Amb aquest objectiu s'ha plantejat un disseny prospectiu en dues onades: la primera onada contempla la realitzacio d'entrevistes personals narratives durant les setmanes previes a la finalitzacio de la condemna de preso per coneixer la biografia, la darrera etapa a la preso i les narratives sobre la transicio; la segona onada esta previst fer-la un any despres de la finalitzacio de la condemna i estara centrada en l'analisi del proces de transicio. Aquest informe presenta els resultats de la primera onada.

Regresión a segundo grado: causas y consecuencias

Citations

The Failure of Parole: Rethinking the Role of the State in Reentry

References

Policing Parole: The Constitutional Limits of Back-End Sentencing

La política criminal europea en materia de sanciones alternativas a la prisión y la realidad española : una brecha que debe superarse

El procés de desistiment de les persones empresonades. Obstacles i suports

MAPPA, parole and the management of high-risk offenders in the community