Parole Probation Parole/Probation the Hypothetical

Parole Probation

Parole/Probation

The hypothetical interview: the interviewer questions and statements are marked with an "I" and the response by the parole officer is marked with a "P.O."

In the field that you are, what is your job description?

P.O: Prisoners are at times sent on parole and they have to report to the parole officer continuously from time to time. My duty is to be there when they report and check that they are not doing anything that would be considered as unlawful.

Many are not clear about the concept and the idea behind parole or probation; would you like to clarify that?

In the simplest terms, parole is the release of the prisoner under supervision. The idea is to release the prisoner with restrictions and make him feel responsible so that he would abide the law. Many people often feel that releasing a criminal back into the society would be dangerous and that parole does not reduce the recidivism rate. There have been studies done on this and an American Bar Association committee commented after their observations on this case:

If we, today, turned loose all of the inmates of our prisons without regard to the length of their sentences, and with some exceptions, without regard to their previous offenses, we might reduce the recidivism rate over what it would be if we kept each prisoner incarcerated until his sentence expired." (Ronald L. Goldfarb, Linda R. Singer, p.183)

Thus one can see that by using parole as a tool a nation can reduce the recidivism rate and thus reduce the crime rate among those who have already been sentenced to prison.

I: What do the authorities do if they find a parolee has violated the law or the conditions decided at the time of his parole?

P.O: If any parolee is seen to have violated or is even seen to be likely to violate any of the terms and conditions that were agreed upon by him, then his parole can be cancelled and a peace officer would be asked to detain and return the parolee to the correctional center.

I: What do you feel is lacking in this process of parole and probation and how would one improve this?

P.O: There have been many programs devised to make this process effective and recently Reintegrating Alternatives Personal Program (RAPP) was devised to reduce the recidivism rate even further. When a parolee is released back into the community, he faces a lot of problems including his transition from the prison back to his family and home. Many families do not accept the person back and this increases his chance to get back to the crime world. Further offices, companies, firms etc. are reluctant in hiring a parolee and would prefer a free individual to work for them. They do not trust a parolee and think it is unsafe for a parolee to move around in their institution and interact with other staff members. This program that I have mentioned actually helps the parolee with this transition from prison to society. They help him build a relationship with his family and also help him secure a job. It is really important that a parolee finds a lawful means to earn money because if he does not then the chances for him to get back to the crime world increases. The process of parole should not be restricted to release the parolee and monitoring him but should include in aiding and helping him with whatever problem he has. This has to be adopted widely and I believe that it would surely reduce the recidivism rate.