Parole boards in the United States vary from state to state, but in most states, the parole board is selected by the governor with the legislation confirming. The board’s term is between four-six years and five - seven members with terms that allow for renewal. A main responsibility for the board is, “managing parole release processes and making decisions to terminate parole supervision”(Bohm & Haley, 2012, p. 450). The board grants on basis of two types of parole release discretionary and mandatory. The difference in the two paroles are discretionary allows the board to decide to deny or grant the parole, whereas mandatory requires the board to grant parole at a specific time.
A recent trend in the United States Justice System, at local and state levels, is to implement the use of formulas and algorithms to determine sentencing length. In her article “Sentencing, by the Numbers”, University of Michigan law professor Sonja Starr focuses on this trend, and shows flaws that she finds in the system. In the article, she agrees with the actions of Attorney General Eric Holder in criticizing the system for the way in which it determines the risk of future crimes. Throughout, Starr presents the system as something that will, instead of solving mass incarceration, make the problem worse for impoverished persons and minorities. Starr argues that the system discriminates against those with a socioeconomic disadvantage, has
Today I called the Illinois Representative Michael J. Madigan office and received his answering machine. I left him a message asking him to please consider passing bills for sentencing reform legislation, such as the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (SRCA), S.2123. I told him that I am a registered voter and it has come to my attention that the federal prison population has skyrocketed dramatically over the past 35 years and most of the people in the prisons are in for minimum drug sentences. I told him that while people are in prison they are losing income, job skills, and are typically unable to attend rehabilitation programs. All of these aspects make it extremely difficult for the people to obtain jobs or get on the right path once
In the United States, there are two primary models; Indeterminate and determinate sentencing. Indeterminate sentencing refers to blending decisions provided by the sentencing judge and later from a release authority so the actual time served can be determined. The judge will sentence offenders to indeterminate sentencing during the time of the sentence including the maximum or minimum amount of time that’s to be served. Once an offender serves the minimum amount of time they are qualified for a release by the parole board. However, the maximum sentence may have to be served by the offender if the parole board doesn’t grant an early release.
Over the past 40 years U.S. incarceration has grown at an extraordinary rate, with the United States’ prison population increasing from 320,000 inmates in 1980 to nearly 2.3 million inmates in 2013. The growth in prison population is in part due to society’s shift toward tough on crime policies including determinate sentencing, truth-in-sentencing laws, and mandatory minimums. These tough on crime policies resulted in more individuals committing less serious crimes being sentenced to serve time and longer prison sentences. The 1970s-1980s: The War on Drugs and Changes in Sentencing Policy Incarceration rates did rise above 140 persons imprisoned per 100,000 of the population until the mid 1970s.
Three-Strikes Law It is my intention to establish a relationship between the three strikes law and retention rates of prisoners incarcerated for low level offenses. Before I begin to discuss the three-strikes law, it is imperative that I give some background information on sentencing guidelines. During the 1970 's the incarceration sentences imposed were indeterminate, meaning the judge had the discretion to sentence an offender on a case by case basis and sentencing a person to state prison or county jail was supposed to be to rehabilitate that person so he/she could re-enter society. Often time’s prisoners were sentenced to different amounts of time for similar offenses.
Indeterminate sentences are imposed with the individual criminal in mind. A minimum and maximum sentence such as 3-5 years are given by a judge. After the minimum sentence is served, the length of incarceration may vary based on the prisoner’s level of cooperation with the correctional agency. Early parole may be granted for good behavior. Determinate sentences are a fixed term of incarceration.
INTRODUCTION The United States incarcerates a greater percentage of the population than any country in the world (CBS, 2012). According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, over 2.3 million adults were incarcerated in federal and state prisons, and county jails in 2013. There are an additional 820,000 people on parole and 3.8 million people on probation (Wagner & Rabuy, 2016) Jail and prison differ primarily in regards to the length of stay for inmates.
The purpose of the United States Sentencing Commission is to “establish sentencing policies and practices for the federal criminal justice system that will assure the ends of justice by promulgating detailed guidelines prescribing the appropriate sentences for offenders convicted of federal crimes.” (Mustard 289) When it comes to the sentencing process, data is collected about the individual’s offense and criminal records to determine the offense level and criminal history score. Once they find those two scores that then indicate a range of sentence lengths. With certain circumstances, the judge can depart from the guidelines and issue a sentence that either exceeds the maximum or falls short of the minimum required by the guidelines. Once the sentencing range is determined, courts must adhere to the following constraints: “In determination of the sentence to impose within the guideline range, or whether a departure from the guidelines is warranted, the court may consider, without
A few other States have abolished parole board release for certain violent or felony offenders (Alaska, New York, Tennessee, and Virginia) or for certain crimes against a person (Louisiana). California still allows discretionary release by a parole board only for offenders with indeterminate life sentences. In general, States still have the right to restrict the possibility of parole board release based on the offender’s criminal history or their circumstances of the offense that they did. While discretionary release from prison by a parole board has been eliminated by some States, post-release supervision still exists and is generally referred to as community or supervised release. Parole boards, in various forms, have the responsibility to set conditions of release for offenders under conditional or supervised release, the authority to return an offender to prison for violating the conditions of parole or supervised release, and the power to grant parole for medical reasons.
For example, a person would be sentenced to five years in prison. Generally, it is used for violent felonies. It is definite and cannot be subject to review by a parole board. It is not negotiable. Even though it is less common than indeterminate sentencing, there are several benefits of it.
Defined as a public policy that imposes an outlined amount of prison time based on the crime committed and the defendant’s criminal history, these sentences dictate that a judge must enact a statutory fixed penalty on individuals convicted of certain crimes, regardless of extenuating circumstances. Such laws have removed discretionary sentencing power from judges, instead focusing on severe punishments in line with national drug and crime concerns. While the original goal of mandatory minimum sentences was to deter potential criminals, reduce drug use, control judicial prudence, the policy has had extreme consequences such as sentencing imbalances and
Between 1980 and 2010, half of the 222% increase in the nationwide prison population was due to longer sentencing, with the number of prisoners servicing life sentences having increased dramatically (Fair Fight Initiative, n.d.). In previous decades, victim impact statements and truth in sentencing laws required offenders to serve approximately 50% of their sentences, now, as a result of victim’s rights legislation, offenders must serve at least 85% of their sentences (Rio Salado College, n.d.). With inmates serving more time before qualifying for parole, the incarcerated population continues to increase. Events Leading Up to the Corrections Explosion Events that have led up to the corrections explosion include the 1980s war on drugs, 1980s and 1990s mandatory minimum sentencing laws, three strike laws, and victim rights legislation (Rio Salado College, n.d.). The war on drugs in the 1980s led to the implementation of stringent drug laws.
How Sentencing Affects the State and Federal Prison Systems The United States
Furthermore, the parole system is known to have a multitude of problems laced within it, these problems can be solved by focusing on parolee and parole officer relationships, and partaking in systems that improve the underlying issues. Following through to fix these affairs may seem unrealistic, but a solution could be in sight. Issues within the parole system in the United States include the ineffectivity of parolees meeting with their supervising
