Highlights
Per the US Department of Justice and the US Sentencing Commission, the vast majority of rearrests for those on community supervision or parole and probation are for new crimes, not technical violations.
The Council of State Governments Justice Center said the majority of these violations are for “minor infractions,” such as failing a drug test or missing a curfew.
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Thirty-five years of explaining crime data while directing multi-award-winning public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies.Retired federal senior spokesperson. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet.
Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of Criminology and Public Affairs-University of Maryland, University College.
Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Former police officer.
Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional booksellers.
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Quotes
All quotes are edited for brevity.
Article
Articles stating that most offenders on community supervision are rearrested for a minuscule, unimportant, superfluous technical violation are common.
Here’s the frequent narrative; an uncaring parole and probation agent revokes the community supervision of a person on parole or probation who missed an appointment or didn’t make restitution payment thus sending him to prison after a hearing thus devastating his family emotionally and financially.
What’s A Technical Violation?
The problem with that assertion is data from the Department of Justice and the US Sentencing Commission stating that the overwhelming percentage of criminal arrests involving released prisoners were based on new criminal charges and not technical violations of parole and probation.
A technical violation is an infraction that may require a hearing before a judge for a probationer or a parole commissioner for those released from prison.
Technical violations can be serious. Escapes/absconding from supervision or disruptive behavior in treatment programs or not showing up for supervision appointments for months or the complaints of community members as to the offender’s behavior “can” be (and often are) indicators that he needs correcting before he reengages in serious criminal activities.
Former prisoners (and many probationers) having scores of technical violations, twenty to forty or more is not unusual. Not paying fines, restitution, child support, not completing community service, and other infractions are frequent. A parolee in Maryland murdered a state trooper; he had well over 70 technical violations.
Technical violations are often intermingled with new criminal charges. Because the overwhelming percentage of criminal charges for “all” defendants involve plea bargains, it’s easier for the justice system to proceed with a charge of escape/absconding than trying to prove a burglary or robbery. Pleading guilty to a technical violation rather than a new crime may bring a shorter sentence. But the process started with new criminal charges.
The Vast Majority Of Released Offenders Are Rearrested
The overwhelming percentage of released offenders are rearrested during and after their period of community supervision; eighty-four percent per USDOJ data. See an overview here, Offender Recidivism. I have seen state data where arrests are higher for some categories of released offenders.
Research From The Bureau of Justice Statistics
“Recidivism of Sex Offenders” is research from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the US Department of Justice. It contains interesting data that goes beyond the stated topic. These include the overall recidivism of released prison inmates (based on nine years of study) and the categories for rearrests.
The data includes findings on sex offenders “and” all categories of released offenders.
99 Percent Were Arrested For An Offense Other Than A Probation Or Parole Violation
There is a finding from the Bureau of Justice Statistics sex offender report that is startling.
Their press release offers the following statement: “Almost all prisoners who were re-arrested (96% of released sex offenders and 99% of all released offenders) were arrested for an offense other than a probation or parole violation,” (emphasis added), BJS, (Web Archive-slow load).
US Sentencing Commission
Per the US Sentencing Commission, only 23.8 percent of people released from federal prisons were rearrested for technical violations when measuring violent offenses. The study focused on juveniles but for the chart below, per an email from the US Sentencing Commission, “There were no specific age requirements for the group.” “They were released from incarceration or commenced a term of probation.”
What Does This Mean?
It means that the overwhelming number of released prisoners returning to the justice system are there for new crimes, not technical violations of parole and probation.
It means that the great majority of articles stating that revocations for those on parole were for technical violations are incorrect.
What It Doesn’t Mean
Returns to the justice system based on arrests doesn’t mean that the charges will be prosecuted, or the original charge is what prosecutors proceed with, or the defendant will be found guilty.
New crimes and technical violations are often intermingled.
The cited data focuses on those released from prison, not probation, yet technical violations for probationers are common.
Regardless
Regardless, the BJS and US Sentencing Commission data gives a better understanding of why people on parole or probation find themselves in additional jeopardy.
National Public Radio
National Public Radio offers a new analysis from The Council of State Governments Justice Center.
“Wake-Up Call About A Broken System: New Study Shows Failings Of Probation, Parole” states that nearly half the people admitted to state prisons in the U.S. are there because of violations of probation or parole, according to a new nationwide study that highlights the personal and economic costs of the practice.
The Council of State Governments Justice Center said the majority of these violations are for “minor infractions,” such as failing a drug test or missing a curfew. Those so-called technical violations cost states $2.8 billion every year, the report says.
Criminal justice advocates say the analysis amounts to a call to action. “This should serve as a wake-up call that our probation and parole systems are not healthy, not functioning as intended and need to be reformed,” said the director of criminal justice for Arnold Ventures, a philanthropic foundation that funded the study.
About 95,000 people are locked up because of technical violations on any given day, the report says. In 20 states, those minor infractions account for more than half of prison admissions, NPR.
Conclusion
It’s massively difficult for most of us to come to grips with criminal justice reform or policy when sources assert that technical violations are driving prison intakes and the Department of Justice or the US Sentencing Commission suggests that it’s new arrests, not technical violations that are the center of the debate.
Assertions that technical violations are driving prison intakes seem to be grounded in advocacy, not data.
This isn’t to suggest that technical violations haven’t been overused, or that we shouldn’t look hard at revocations based on technical violations. It’s equally important to understand that new criminal charges may be minor or not prosecuted or found not guilty. Because of limited space, only those truly deserving (i.e., repeat violent offenders) should be in prison.
Because prison space is limited, we can’t revoke people for every technical violation. We would overwhelm the correctional and judicial systems in a month.
But when you consider that the vast majority of current prison inmates are there for crimes of violence and that the remainder has either histories of violence or multi-repeat arrests or multiple prosecutions or incarcerations, or that only a fraction of convicted felons get prison time, new criminal charges should not come as a shock to anyone.
Most on probation are now there for felonies. Many probationers have repeat criminal charges.
We need to rededicate ourselves to strategies that can reduce these numbers but for the moment, the data seems clear that it’s new crimes and not technical violations that are driving new intakes into prison.
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