ARE PAROLE SYSTEMS NECESSARY?

Crime in the United States, particularly violent crime, has been a major concern of the American population for decades. Although incumbent politicians (of whatever political party) usually supply statistics to indicate that the crime problem has been and is being effectively dealt with under their administrations, most people, particularly those residing in the country's urban areas, tend to perceive little improvement in the situation.

From the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s, the American prison population increased by 84 percent--from approximately 285 thousand to around 524,000. Per 100 thousand population, the increase was from 129 to 216. Since the mid-1980s, the prison population has continued to climb, however, at a slightly reduced rate. Nearly two-percent of all adult Americans are in prison, in jail, on parole, or on probation. Parole and probation tends to be opposed by the general public--particularly for violent offenders. Parole, however, increasingly seems to many public administrators to be a viable alternative to the escalating costs of prison construction and prison maintenance.

The disposition of criminal cases by the courts has been sharply criticized for being ineffective in the deterrence of both repeat and first time offenses. Most of the theoretical studies devoted to the discovery of ways to reduce crime rates emphasize one of two general ways to attack the problem. First, there are those theories that hol

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means of reducing the crime rate. In this context, it is important to note that some studies have found that the sureness of the imposition of penalties is as important as is the severity of the punishments imposed. The essence of the major problem confronting criminal corrections in the United States is the unacceptably high recidivism rate among the offenders who are processed through the system. Electronic monitoring, shock incarceration (or the prison boot camp concept), and intensive supervision while on parole are all alternative programs developed to deal with the recidivism problem (Petersilia, 1992, pp. 12-17; Lilly, Ball, Curry, and Smith, 1992, pp. 42-47). Shock incarceration has received particularly good press; however, some evidence has been developed, however, that indicates that shock incarceration may not be effective in reducing the recidivism rate (Mackenzie, 1990, pp. 44-52). One objective of shock incarceration and other alternative approaches to deal with offender corrections is the reduction of system costs. A more important goal, however, is improved rehabilitation, because improved rehabilitation leads to a reduction in the recidivism rate that, in turn, will lead to a reduction in system costs (Ma

Category: Government - A