For prisoners, it's a nearly no-parole world

In 1980, more than 70 percent of prisoners were paroled for good behavior after serving part of their sentence, according to the Association of Paroling Authorities International. Today, only about 30 percent are given discretionary release.

"There was a time in the '60s and '70s that we had this belief that we could reform or rehabilitate offenders," says Kevin Wright, a criminologist at the State University of New York at Binghamton. "People came into prisons, we had diagnostic systems to find out what was wrong with them, and then we would treat them and provide them with graduated release so they could adjust back to the community. Parole was also used as an effective way of controlling the population, because if you misbehaved, you didn't get parole."

Criminal-justice experts say the shift away from parole started in the mid-1970s as a reaction, in part, to spiraling crime rates. But now, with the nation's prisons bulging and breaking state budgets, the crackdown on parole is being revisited.

"In general, the pendulum tends to swing on crime issues," says Carl Wicklund, executive director of the American Probation and Parole Association in Lexington, Ky. "I think there's a growing desire to look at alternatives to manage our offender population more cost effectively, and parole provides that."

While some states have done away with parole, others, like Vermont, have reformed and enhanced their parole and probation systems to provide better supervision after offenders are released.

New York has attempted a hybrid approach. According to legislation passed in 1998, violent offenders must serve 85 percent of their sentence. Good behavior - as determined by prison officials and not a parole board - can earn them early release for the remaining 15 percent. But even if they serve the full term, all prisoners receive supervision from parole officers once they're back on the streets.

With any system, possible inequities

Critics applaud the state for keeping the post-release supervision, but argue that doing away the parole board's discretion introduces unfairness into the system. Two people convicted of the same crime could still be released simultaneously, even if one works hard to reform while the other simply bides his time in jail. Ironically, the same critics are aware that the traditional parole system, with its current tough standards, can also create serious inequities.

Gerald Balone is a case in point. He was sentenced under New York's old system, in which the parole board still has discretion. If he'd been been sentenced under the new system, he might be out now with his record of good behavior.

"The sad part is that 30 years is a long time, and people do change," says Mr. Wicklund. "But I think that as a society we have become so scared of people that are 'out of sight, out of mind' that we're unable to forgive."

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor

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