Criminal law
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A convict is considered eligible for parole after they have completed their prison sentence. Parole eligibility is granted after the convict has completed at least one-third of the prison sentence. When a convict is eligible for parole, they will get released into a community. However, parole eligibility does not guarantee release. Serving the required amount of time in jail does not guarantee automatic release without review. Some convicts may not be eligible for release despite serving jail time. Therefore; these convicts cannot be released without undergoing review. A parole board is responsible for conducting the review process that decided is an inmate eligible for release or not. The factors to consider include traits, behaviors, mental stability, rehabilitative efforts, and behavior during incarceration, vocation training, and time served prior criminal history, and personal information like age and marital status (Proctor,2009). These factors matter to ensure public safety before integrating the individual back into the community.
Parole boards have played a significant role in release eligibility for decades. The current public attitude towards criminals has illuminated the rise of mass incarceration. Public attitude seeks to end mass incarceration among convicts. Parole policies require improvement and reinvention. The media continues to cover various criminal activities across platforms. The increasing rate of crime calls for a reduction of parole release. The reason behind this is that many convicts who get released revoke their parole. Multiple paroles revoke has led to reentering in prison thus causing mass incarceration (Rhine et al,2017). However, many convicts get released without proper skills and support to effectively reintegrate back into the community. The future model of parole needs to address release decisions. For instance, releasing convicts with mental illness without proper support may lead to reoffending. The parole board must reevaluate the terms of release to ensure that these individuals are released in an environment where they were going to be lead better lives.
Many convicts are released without skills and basic life stability thus leading them to revoke parole. However, keeping a person in prison is costly. The state is responsible for the finances to keep the prison running. Research shows that there is overcrowding in prisons as well as a shortage of prison workers (Rhine et al,2017). The future of parole should address the decision-making tools to ensure they are fair and reliable to tackle the problem of mass incarceration. Also, factors such as intensity parole conditions and supervision must be looked into. Some of the parole grounds of release can be too harsh thus leading to parole revoke. The best route to reduce mass incarceration is to significantly reduce its use or completely shut it down. Either way, the future goal is to prevent re-offending and to solve the problem of mass incarceration.
As a parole board member, I would not release the man that has served 6 years of a 20-year murder sentence because of his good record. However, I will release him under parole supervision to ensure that he is not a threat to the public.
References
Proctor, J. L. (2009). The “new parole”: An analysis of parole board decision making as a function of eligibility. Journal of Crime and Justice, 22(2), 193-217.
Rhine, E. E., Petersilia, J., & Reitz, K. R. Garner, K., Lido, O. (2017). The future of parole release. Crime and Justice, 46(1), 279-338.
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