Probation And Parole

Parole Kristofer Allison November 14, 2011 CRJ 210 Probation and Parole Parole by definition is the “conditional early release from prison or jail, under supervision, after a portion of the sentence has been served. ” This practice assumes that the offender successfully demonstrated conformity to the rules and regulations of the prison environment and shows an ability to conform to society’s norms and laws. The word, parole, derives from the French “parol” meaning “word of honor” and references prisoners of war promising not to take up arms in current conflict if released.

How that concept came to apply to the early release of convicted, often violent, offenders is less clear. The first documented official use of early release from prison in the United States is credited to Samuel G. Howe in Boston (1847), but prior to that, other programs using pardons achieved basically the same outcome. In fact, as late as 1938, parole was simply a conditional PARDON in many states. In China, prisoners are often granted medical parole or compassionate release, which releases them on the grounds that they must receive medical treatment which cannot be provided for in prison.

Occasionally, medical parole is used as a no-publicity way of releasing an accidentally imprisoned convict. The Chinese legal code has no explicit provision for exile, but often a dissident is released on the grounds that they need to be treated for a medical condition in another country, and with the understanding that they will be reincarcerated if they return to China. Parole in Italy is called Liberta condizionata. It is covered by Article 176 of the Italian Penal Code.

A prisoner is eligible if he has served at least 30 months (or 26 years for life sentences), and the time remaining on his sentence is less than half the total (normally), a quarter of the total (if previously convicted or never convicted) or five years (for sentences greater than 7. 5 years). In 2006, 21 inmates were granted liberta condizionata. So parole is very hard to get in that country. In New Zealand, inmates serving a short term sentence (of up to 2 years) are automatically released after serving half their sentence, and there is no parole hearing.

Inmates serving sentences of more than 2 years are normally seen before the parole board after serving one-third of the sentence, although the judge at sentencing can make an order for a minimum non-parole period of up to two-thirds of the sentence. Inmates serving life sentences usually serve a minimum of 10 years, or longer depending on the minimum non-parole period, before being eligible for parole. It should be noted, however, that parole is not an automatic right, and for the year ending 30 June 2010 more than 70% of parole hearings were declined. Many sentences include a a specific non-parole period.

In the United States, courts may specify in a sentence how much time must be served before a prisoner is eligible for parole. This is often done by specifying an indeterminate sentence of, say, “15 to 25 years”. The latter type is known as an indeterminate life sentence; in contrast, a sentence of “life without the possibility of parole” is known as a determinate life sentence. In most states, the decision of whether an inmate is paroled is vested in a paroling authority such as a parole board. Mere good conduct while incarcerated in and of itself does not necessarily guarantee that an inmate will be paroled.

Other factors may enter into the decision to grant or deny parole, most commonly the establishment of a permanent residence and immediate, gainful employment or some other clearly visible means of self-support upon release (such as Social Security if the prisoner is old enough to qualify). Many states now permit sentences of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (such as for murder), and any prisoner not sentenced to either this or the death penalty will eventually have the right to petition for release The Parole Board for England and Wales was established in 1968 under the Criminal Justice Act of 1967.

It became an independent executive non-departmental public body (NDPB) on 1 July 1996 under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. The Parole Board’s role is to make risk assessments about prisoners to decide who may safely be released into the community on parole The Parole Board must act in accordance with the type of sentence levied. Just like the United States, England uses indeterminate sentences. These include life sentence prisoners (mandatory life, discretionary life and automatic life sentence prisoners), Her Majesty’s Pleasure detainees, and prisoners given indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPP).

The Parole Board also considers whether prisoners are safe to release into the community once they have completed their tariff (the minimum time they must spend in prison) and also whether the Secretary of State is justified in recalling them to prison for a breach of their life license conditions (the rules which they must observe upon release). They also use determinate sentences. These include discretionary conditional release (DCR) prisoners serving more than 4 years whose offence was committed before 4 April 2005 and prisoners given extended sentences for public protection (EPP) for offences committed on or after 4 April 2005.

The Parole Board considers whether these prisoners are safe to release into the community once they have completed the minimum time they must spend in prison and also whether the Secretary of State is justified in recalling them to prison for a breach of their parole license conditions (the rules which they must observe upon release). This was just a sample of parole systems throughout the world. We can see that each country has some sort of parole system in their justice system. It seems that the countries of England and the United States parole systems mirror themselves.

They also seem to have the fairest justice systems. Work Cited Probation, Parole, and Community Corrections, 3rd Edition. 3rd ed. , Dean J. Champion, Dean J. , Prentice Hall, 1999. http://www. paroleboard. govt. nz/about-us/cases-and-eligibility. html “China Grants Convicted Scholars Medical Parole”. The Chronicle of Higher Education. http://chronicle. com/weekly/v47/i47/47a04501. htm. Retrieved 2008-01-13 Bilton, A. C. and Bottomley, A K. 1971. ‘About parole’. Prison Service Journal, No. 1 (N. S. ), 6-7