Part one: I am going to start with the physical observations I acquired from this video interview. The first, was the ratio between male and females on the board. It was encouraging to see major roles being filled with highly experienced women. There was a good representation between African American and Caucasian races, however, there was a lack of Hispanic influence. The room was filled with people, there were some who had to stand; I feel this means they had a better turn out than what they had previously thought. As a whole this board was extremely thought provoking as it gave a great deal of information and facts addressing probation and some parole. One of the members on the board shared with the audience that 4.5 million people are on probation across America. The peak of probation was in 2007; since then probation has decreased by 11 percent. One million women are on probation, that number has doubled since the 90’s. This is not too surprising, as the number of women committing crimes is currently at an all-time high. It only makes sense for there to but a drastic increase of women on probation. African Americans are 3.5 more times likely to be placed under supervision than a Caucasian. It is unequal and unjust for an African American to have a greater chance to be placed on probation. It’s worth our time and resources to level the playing field for them; lives are changed daily from this inconsistency. Another interesting avenue in probation is the overall lack of studies and research on Hispanic. There are Hispanics on probation, however, we simply don’t have numbers on them. I feel this is an area which needs to be improved upon; as this is a total blind spot in our probation department. Probations and parole have grown immensely in the past twenty years. There are many advantages to probation; one of them being its much cheaper for the state to place someone on probation than in prison. Another advantage is the individual remains within their community while if placed in prison they are removed from their friends and family, which means for most, the emotional support is gone. With this, I think probation is a good alternative over prison in some cases. Probation is significantly different from state to state. Therefore, there are different probation conditions and rules to adhere by. There can be as many as 30 conditions that could be added on to a probation sentence, some can be fairly random like paying child support. By having more conditions to follow, there is a higher likely hood the individual will struggle to obey them all. Which then leads into technical violations, with so many technical violations the probation sentence could potentially increase in length. I was unaware of this side of probation. The majority of people, would rather be in jail for one year than probation for five years. CoalRoller711
Dear CoalRoller711 I appreciate and agree with a lot you have said. I also notice the ratio of female to male on the panel and it was very nice to see such highly educated women in such important position on the board/ panel. I also thought that we need to improve the resources and put more effort into keeping track of the hispanics who are under probation. I think that it is ridiculous that we don't have numbers or tracking on them. I feel as though the conditions that the probationers are held to help them but can also hinder them. Such as how they can’t be around other criminals I understand but what if their family members are criminal and that can ruin their support system and also their family relationships.- mmmchicken711
Part two: Some think the conditions during probation are too extreme to follow them all. Research has proven that sanctions are less affective than incentives when applying them to probation. Although there is a great lack in incentive studies. However, the few studies that have been done, show promising results. The incentives come in many different forms, one being the use of gift cards and similar avenues. The courts try to tailor needs and wants of the individual. They are trying to address each case as an individual, one size does not fit all. I think this approach is far more personal than being general when interacting with the probationer. By gearing probation to fit them more personally, the people on probation are more likely to be successful and not recidivate. It just makes sense. 4.5 million people are on probation, half of them will exit probation successfully. I am surprised to hear this number is as high as it is, due too all the conditions and other facts in probation. But I am excited that it is half of 4.5 million, it’s a great start to strive for a higher success rate. North Carolina, is experiencing great amounts of success with recidivism. They have reached 46 percent of their probationers who haven’t recidivated. They are the first in the country to have such a low rate of people return to probation. They have revolutionary numbers. Its encouraging to see the difference, and the difference that has yet to happen in other states. The overall goal of probation is, for probation to be cut in half by year 2030. I feel like this is a huge task to undergo, however, with 11 percent in reduction already there is a chance this goal could potentially be reached. There are so many lives that could be changed through this honorable goal of probation. At the end of the presentation the board allowed the audience to ask some questions. I thought this was good as it opened the floor up for feedback. I thought the overall presentation was phenomenal, and very informational. -CoalRoller711
First off, I just wanted to say your post was extremely well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Your first sentence, in which you mentioned that some people think the probation conditions are too extreme to all be followed, I think I would have to admit to being one of those people. Sure, there are studies that may say otherwise, but we don't know if it would be different if there weren't so many rules and regulations. I do like that you mentioned making each case individualized because I believe it would do significantly better in preventing recidivism. I do have to agree with the fact you mentioned you were surprised about- the one in which you said half of the people on probation will successfully complete their supervision, but then again, there are quite a few people on probation and parole who simply made a stupid mistake and aren't generally crime offending people- a lot of times they're law abiding citizens who go to school or work and have families, which makes it unlikely for them to recidivate. For this reason, I believe this is why that number is so high. GMan219711
Part one, While watching this video the first thing that stuck out to me was that Jake said that “ one in every fifty five adults in this country is either under probation or parole supervision. He also stated that that is around 4.5 million people and growth of over 239 percent since 1980.” I thought that that was so mind boggling to hear and that you are walking past multiple people everyday who either under probation or parole or you don’t even know it. The growth from 1980 to 2018 is about a 6.3 percent growth each year. I feel like it is better to put them in probation or parole more so than keeping them in the prisons because it is saving us money but also letting them get back into society and also be able to start providing for their families again but also it can help them straighten their life out and hopefully not recidivate. In 2014 the probation percentage was at forty two percent for misdemeanor convictions, twenty five percent of all probationers are women and fifty four percent of probationers were white. When While listening to all of Jake's statistics and findings i was wondering why he did not mention hispanics only blacks and white. But Jake brought up that the reason there is no percentage for the hispanic is because the states don’t report it. I do agree with jake that we need to learn more about that and how much would that increase the probation and parole rates. Another interesting point in the video is that roughly half exit supervision successfully but jake said that at the federal level is are some problems and they don’t know what happens of 1 out of every 5. I think that New York’s approach to probation is so interesting but also so fair. The approach that stated was that they have “evolved from a compliance based the more supervision the better and the one size fits all approach to probation to a research informed one size fits one and community focused process of probation so in the city they have calibrated all of their caseloads and they have also started specialized caseloads for adolescents and young adults because even though they present like a third of their people on probation they account for almost half of all rearrest behavior that they see. So they have turned probation into a stage of opportunity in the system and a stage of growth rather than just a compliance base of avoiding rearrest as a goal.” I think that we could learn from what New York is doing with their probation system and that could really help stop recidivism especially in adolescents and young adults. Also it helps give them a better future but also stop the cycle from repeating itself throughout their future generations. Even though they said that the probationer costs went up I think the cost is worth it the reward in this case and that paying closer attention and having calibrated caseloads will be very beneficial. mmmchicken 711
Part two, Until Ebony started talking I didn’t really think how much went into probation but also the general conditions that they have to follow and how hard it could be like when she used the how they can’t go to places with alcohol, I never thought about how many places actually have alcohol and how it can be difficult to follow the conditions that have been set that they have to follow. Also it they can’t hang out with anyone else who has a criminal record. I think that that is kind of sad especially if like she said it is a family member or a friend. For me that was an eye opening part of the video on the struggles that they have to face a deal with but on the other side it is the price of staying out of prison and on probation. Also when they started to talk about incentives that probationers get i thought that that was a great way to keep them on the right track and although that might not seem like a big deal to us I feel has if it could mean a great deal to them and help them realized that we recognize when they are doing things right and also how they can impact what is happening on probation. I was surprised to hear that in an example used someone took 1 year in prison than 5 years probation. It is smart to look at ways to decrease the percentage of technical violations and New York had decreased the filing rates adults technical violation by five percent and juveniles by under two percent. I think that is a smart place to because earlier it said that is another reason how probationer get their probations revoked. mmmchicken711
mmmchicken your paragraph was very well written and it explained this article very well. I do agree that when talking about the statistics they should include Hispanics and others not just white and black because yes they are the majority but they still have a number on the community. When she did bring up the violations of probation it is indeed very sad about how they take action to some people, for example when they won't let them see other people with criminal records because some of their families and/or friends have criminal records, the alcohol one I can understand to a point, because they shouldn't be able to purchase alcohol but they shouldn't be restricted to go somewhere that sells it because most restaurants, gas stations, etc. Overall you had a great response. -z33 711
I agree with you said the conditions and rules the probation officers have to follow are kind of strict but self-explanatory. Them not being able to be near alcohol or hanging with criminal people kind of explains itself. You are representing the law enforcement not only that but you are following up on someone else and you shouldn’t do the same stuff they are doing. Probation officers have to set a good example just the police officers. But, being able to help those people that make mistakes in their life is key because you can help change their life.-babyblue711
Part 1: Ammy Solomon who is the Vice president of the criminal justice system teams with Jake Horowitz who is the Director of the Public Safety. Jake talks about how the system has flown underneath the criminal justice for too long and should be fixed. Jake talks about how when we fail on the system we get returning offenders and recidivism is high. 1 in 55 adults is under porale supervision which is very high, but it was at the highest peak in 2007. The growth in the 80's wasn't due to crime it was due to the "more admission to arrest in prisons" and how everyone who was arrested in the 90's were elongated arrested. They talk about how the unit per arrest has increased by a long shot and keeps increasing. Jake talks about what has the biggest impact on the criminal justice system, they talked about how race, culture, sex, etc. has an effect and how depending what you differ in you are more likely to be under supervision. At 5:52 in the video it states that three-quarters of the people that are under supervision are being supervised for a non-violent crime. (More than half of the people exit supervision successfully) three hundred fifty thousand individuals every year get admitted into a prison from supervision. At around 7:24 they say that the country is a "feeder system" not a system that alternative to incarceration. Most of the incarceration in prisons are the revocation of coming of parole. Ana Bermudez then takes the stand and she is the Commissioner of probation. Ana did some research in New York City and she talks about how the country has and had been taking the wrong approach to how we handle people under supervision. For example, people who are doing a misdemeanor have been receiving the same amount of treatment as someone that has committed a felony. However, in NY they have been getting fewer arrests which in return has caused the number of people under supervision to decrease as well. Her main point is to get the US to get off the compliance-based processes. At 13:00 people they talk about how there has been an increased budget and she defends by saying that people of the lower people under supervision they have been able to invest more money and time into people. Ana talks about how they have increased the number of contracts that they have with communities so that they can lower the risk of coming back to prison. Deanna Hoskins then talks the mic, her organization wants cut correctional population in half in 12 years. She explains that for her goal to come true she had to go into the reason why the incarceration rate is so high and then they talk about how Arkansas is one of the highest incarceration rates of the US. And then explains how people just need some assistance such as campaigns and just need some initiative. She then talks about crime how people of black or brown communities do get a more strict watch and how this does have an effect on the system. -z33 711
Part 2: Ebony Ruhland then takes the mic, Ebony started explaining about the violations inside the criminal justice system and how that has an effect on the system. She talks about how there are technical violations which force the probation officer to put them in jail, she does explain that they give them sanction, after sanction, after sanction and the officer's hands are pretty much tied at that point. and she talks about how things can help such as community service and community groups and she goes into the fact that these people that want supervision have to pay, on average, 60$ a month on just the supervision fee, then you add the drug tests, anger management, life skill classes, attorney fees, etc. and if you miss any payment then you are put back into prison. She talks about how that most courts do give away to anyone who "doesn't have the means to pay" but if the court sees that you clearly have the means to pay but you are misplacing your priorities then they will have no problem putting you back to finish your sentence. Ammy then tells Ebony about how someone came up to her before airing and explained to her about how she has a son who only had traffic violations and since they piled up they gave him 7 years of probation and the amount of fees and conditions that come with probation has drained his bank account and when they went to the courthouse to see if they can adjust the fees so he can live without worry they added more fee's. Ebony talks about how most of these sentences given to these people are not completed because the requirement is too demanding and cannot be met. Most PO's (Probation Officers) give incentives to good behavior probationers because these will make them continue to do the right thing. Especially young people if they are doing the right thing they will assist with things like laptops, books, gift cards, etc. Deanna explains on how people would rather do 1 year in prison then 5 years of probation because of our community cycle, she explains how probation is not a privilege it is a alter route than going to jail because if you mess up on probation then you are still going to go to jail. I appreciate that when discussions let people who are watching and listening to ask their questions. For example, the question answered to this women about how people who have a criminal conviction affect them and their chances of becoming what they want to be, and she explains how when someone has a record they are basically flagged and when they apply to because, for example, if someone applies to become a corrections officer then the board would get together and look at there files and history and would determine if they would have a positive effect on their probationers because people who have been in probation generally have a longer bond and are more willing to help someone because they know what it feels like to be there. This was a very good discussion on how the criminal justice needs to reform away for corrections to decrease the population and reduce sentencing and help more people. -z33 711
I really like how you noticed how they waited and let people ask questions. It really gave the feeling of a true discussion. Not only did they talk amongst themselves they let others in and ask and get answers for questions we all were thinking. This was a very eye opening and interesting discussion about how reform can help make the criminal justice system better. -pizza711
The movie “Stand By Me” showed a lot of theories that we discussed in class. In the movie Vern had discover that a star her had been killed near their homes. Vern decides to tell everyone else and they all decide to go see the body by walking there. Vern knew where the body was because he over heard the two body Billy and Charlie discussing it. On the the way to the body they learn a lot about themselves and also they show the theories in several ways. The first label that I saw in the movie was future labeling which was a dead body. They quickly said that once they found the body they were going to be on the news after they told everyone. Future labeling basically means when you label something that think might happen or put a label on a person if you think the label will fit them in the future. There was a lot of primary deviance being shown also. The boys showed primary deviance towards Vern in serval ways. Teddy always had something negative to say to Vern about his appearance. Also there was a lot of primary deviance shown against each other not just Vern. Primary deviance means people who see themselves and are seen by others also if negative labels are applied its part of the persons identity. Degradation ceremony was also shown in the movie and it means when you degrade someone into the label that you are putting on them. Another way primary deviance was shown in the movie is when Chris talks to Gordie in the woods about his teacher labeling him something that he isn’t. Chris was very hurt about being labeled by his teacher and peers. Informal labeling was another theory that was shown several times in the movie. Informal labeling basically means being labeled by parents, teachers or your peers. The boys showed informal labeling a lot throughout the movie by labeling each other with positive and negative labels. Also informal labeling was shown with not just the main characters but the other people in the movie. Gordie’s father showed informal labeling by labeling him before and after his brother died. Gordie’s father would say negative things to him that put so many labels on him. Gordie didn’t take his father labeling him well at all throughout the movie. Towards the end of the movie Gordie has a breakdown to his friend Chris about the labels that his father calls him. Basically Gordies father shows primary deviance and informal labeling throughout the movie towards Gordie. Gordie’s father showed both when his farther out a label on his friends. Gordie was a quiet boy that likes to tell stores to his friends. All of Gordie’s friends was dealing with being labeled in their own ways. His friend Chris labeled his own father as a drunk. Teddy deals with labeling because of him being burned and also being a joker. Vern was always labeled because of his weight and was timid. Informal labeling was also shown in the movie when Gordie tells the other boys a story about David Hogan. Which was about an overweight boy who is always teased and bullied. Informal labeling is being shown when Hogan enters the pie-eating contest and everybody including the host laughs and talks about him in a negative way. Also I think degradation ceremony was being used because everyone was degrading him into the label of being fat. David Hogan realizes it and want revenge. Differential association was shown in several ways. The group of boys was showed differential association because they were showing delinquent behavior throughout the whole movie when they started walking to find the body and before when they caught in the mans gate. They also all learned from each other in so many ways in the movie because they are all different. They also all leaned criminal techniques from each other. Which shows what differential association means. All four boys also Billy and Charlie showed the neutralization theory. Both of them had beliefs that allowed them to show delinquent acts based off one of their beliefs. -SR
In the video reforming probation and parole to promote success. They all have really interesting views and points about paole. However there was a few odd things about this video like the ratio from boy to girl, and the camera angle was weird and it was poor quality. Jake stated very interesting statistics like one in every fifty- five adults is either under parole or probation.He also talked about the statistics with different races. So basically there are a ton of people on parole or probation and we could be wrong with them and not even know. Then it talked about new york's way of doing things which i thought was extremely fair they talk about going to one fits all to more individual based.Parole and probation is just keeping people out of prison which saves money and helps people stay apart of community and lets them continue to provide financial and emotional support to their families. So I think parole and probation are very good things and we should continue to change them to make it a better success. And one way is how new york views it. Also how they focus on juveniles on parole even though they are only one third of people on parole/probation they are more likely to reoffend and go to prison so that should be a main focus and I like how they recognize that. One size fits one instead of one size fits all. And ebony had avery interesting view on probation and parole that it is as difficult or even more so than prison. So like 25 or 30 conditions, like places serving alcohol or not allowed so basically everywhere. So if one is violated they can go to prison or jail. But a lot of the time it is multiple violations that lead to incarceration. She believes the focus should be appointed to other things like community service. Fees like 60 dollars a month so supervision fee. So the normal person wouldn't be able to make it through the process. You can also be on prohibition for life and or like 25 years this is a little ridiculous. I did not realize that parole and probation had all of this conditions nr did i know that you can go on probation for life. However I would definitely chose a life on probation than a life in prison. With this all being said they can reduce their time by good behavior or their are gifts like textbooks and furniture so they get help to do better, so the are using incentives to promote good behavior. So a lot of people will choose one year in prison over five years of probation, this really stuck with me i really didn't think about how it might not be the better option. A Lot of proles are extended because of needed time to pay fees. They are on community supervision so they can be revoked alot easier if they dont pay and the can. Founds budget they 60 dollars a month so they need to have the money. Have to keep in mind what the goals are so we have to have common goals for this but they vary with state. Mental health probationers they don't really have an answer to because they don't have a lot of information on that. Also it's interesting how they can have people who were convicted of a crime be probationary officer this is cool. But they team up. This was a very interesting video I really learned a lot about probation and parole and how they work and differ between different states, this information was very surprising I did not know about all of the conditions or how easy it is to get revoked. I also never heard about all the fees that are involved with probation or parole. overall with all the information I learned i think we should continue to use probation but true and focus on other areas like community service so that we lower the population in parole and probation. -pizza711
-Pizza711, I agree with you, probation and parole are good approaches for some things. As it allows the individual to remain in the community and it gives them more freedom to financially support themselves. I think that is a good approach, but I do agree, there are things that should be improved upon. Through parole and probation, the state saves millions of our tax dollars. As a member of the community and for someone who pays taxes, I am pleased that the state can save money through these to similar systems. As a side note, I also noted how the members on the board where divided by gender. I thought that to be interesting. It is encouraging to see women this high up in criminal justice. -CoalRoller711
Jake Horowitz which is a director or the public safety performance project talks about the scale of community supervision control at the state level he stated 1 in 55 adults in the country is under probation or parole adult supervision which is about 4.5 million people growth of 239% since 1980. In 2007 it was a meaningful 11% decline 581 thousand 900 fewer people under supervision. Out of all those that are under probation and parole supervision he wanted to see how much of the growth was driven by natural stuff. The national capital studied that almost all the growth in the 80s wasn’t due to crime it was due to more emissions progress in prisons. The growth is prison wasn’t due to crime it was due to longer length to start your emissions prison. He found out probation crime and parole crime per unit crime or per unit arrest has grown. The growth of probation and crime is not because of more people or more crime it's repetitive of those under supervision it ecos the same incarceration they had over the last twenty. Thirty, forty years. There’s a hug growth of women incarcerated and under supervision more than one million and it doubled since 1990. It’s a racial thing they believe hispics has a much less crime rates than another race because hispanic crimes aren’t reported theirs are actually higher than any other race just don’t know how high. More than three quarters of people in this country that is under supervision is for a non violent conviction. More than half the people exit supervision successfully and one in five is unknown which isn't good at all. Ana Bermudez a Commissioner of New York department of probation state the majority of people that is on probation is on probation for a felony, conviction, and a lot of people that are on probation for misdemeanor convictions the case started as a felony. She seen a reduction in arrest, coming into probation. New York think the more super vision the better and the more eye on people the better. People that perform low risk of behavior don't need to be under supervision as long as they are put on. It shouldn’t be looked at as if “one size fits all” it should be viewed as “one size fits one” Deanna Hoskins She then talks about crime how people of black or brown communities do get a more strict watch and how this does have an effect on the system. Which I agree because like Jake said hispanics crimes don’t get reported but they’re higher than any other races.-KenzieLand711
I agree with you on that people who have low risk behavior don’t need to be supervised as much as someone with a higher risk behavior. Also found it interesting that in the 1980s the growth wasn’t do to crime, but due to more admissions process in prisons. I agree with the fact that it is a racial thing in some circumstances. Jake Morowitz, I think, said that people of color are 3 times more likely to enter the system than a caucasian person. Also the number of women in the system are increasing, since the 1990s. I did like that about 37 states have reduced in crime rates, some by 20 percent. –Adventureflight711
Part One: So, to begin about the video Reforming Probation and Parole to Promote Success, I saw that they brought up a lot of good points. I did like that they talked about the statistics about the people in our country that are under court supervision. Which I was shocked to hear the gentleman say that more than half the people leaving supervision have not returned to supervision. Then hearing from Commissioner Bermudan that New York has a decreasing arrest rate and incarceration rate is great to hear. Especially the people on probation are the ones who have felonies and not something as minor as a non-violent crime. It was good to hear that New York is working on their corrections budget while investing into the community and giving back. While having contracts with communities to help decrease the correctional problem. While hearing Dianna’s part in the beginning she makes a valid point that where the problem is that’s where the solution is as well. She also does state that black and brown communities are extra policed. From my standing if we did slow down on the extra policing we can rebuild that repour with communities that usually don’t trust the justice system. Dianna’s plan to cut correctional problems by almost half by 2030 is an admirable goal and gives plenty of time to come up that strategical goal she would like in the end. A few reasons I could see this going through are getting the communities involved and more interested in ways that affect them in the long run. The community is the biggest help we can have when it comes to lowing the arrest rate in my opinion. Dr. Ruolin makes valid points that people on probation can’t go pretty much anywhere that serves alcohol. Which she asked the crowd where some places are, and someone one said Chuck E Cheese. That blows my mind that a child’s restaurant would even serve that. However, that immediate sanction for the persons are not something that ridiculous but a lot of the people on probation Dr. Ruolin stated that you must pay the fees that are included along the lines of the drug tests, and supervision fees. I however did not know some states can put on probation for 25-30 years. To me that seems a bit over the top for something could be possibly minor. The group did talk about how a woman’s son had probation for seatbelt and parking violations that gave him probation for 7 years. So, she had to step in and help pay those fines for her son. -Rollforinitiative711
The behavior Dianna talked about that behavior reform to have that research for statistics. Dianna through a big right punch with that failing a drug test will send you to jail with no treatment for a heavy addiction. I agree with her about probation being a tool for case management to help recidivism. Commissioner Bermudan did state that a lot of cities are trying to reform the correctional system to help grow that repour with their communities. The probation offices sometimes having to worry about collections is sad due to having them worry about pay cuts. Then having Dr. Ruolin stating that one of the Probation directors cancelling the Christmas party due to low budget from lack of collections. Which if that comes to having to cancel your Christmas party then they must be using their budget in the wrong ways. The Commissioner did make valid points on low risk and medium risk individuals. While doing my internship at the Peoria County Juvenile Probation office, I saw each of the risk levels with the juveniles. It matters on how they are raised or not raised. Those kids had bad influences in their life and some did want to live a good life but where they’re from has more challenges for them but had a lower risk of reoffending. Some Juveniles I met had everything on a silver spoon and didn’t care about being there that was a high risk. This does come to show that where you come from is not always a problem, but it is still a small factor in your upbringing. The council did make a valid point about if someone is having a substance abuse problem they shouldn’t be in probation. They need to be in facility to habituate them back into society as a healthy community member. This would allow someone who needs to be on probation that space to get the help they need from the probation offices. Dianne made a great final point about substance abuse. How can they get help if they are criminalized and not given the help that they require? So, my answer to that is simple if they are arrested that they shouldn’t be criminalized and taken to get help. To end this, I will say that overall there is a lot we need to do for future generations of criminal justice followers. I for one like many others we are going to fight for the change that we need. -Rollforinitiative711
Part 1: To start off, I’d like to start off by stating a key statement I read in the article given to us about probation and parole- it goes as follows: “the average daily cost of supervising a probationer in the fiscal year 2008 was $3.42, while the average daily cost of keeping an inmate in prison was $78.95.” To me, this is an outstanding difference, which truly leads me to believe parole and probation are seriously better options than sending someone to jail or prison, assuming they aren’t a danger to themselves or others around them in the community. To be perfectly honest, I’ve never really known a whole lot about parole or probation until watching this video and reading some articles about it. I never really knew what all was involved in it or how those being supervised under such programs are treated and what they’re expected to do. Something I did know, since my uncle was relatively recently on parole, was that they’re required to show up and submit a urine test (in a lot of cases depending on the offense) pretty often to ensure they’re staying clean. My uncle was given a tracking bracelet, like tons of people on probation/parolees are given today. Something that surprised me about this is that the bracelets aren’t all that great- his would malfunction all the time, sometimes even once every few days or once a week. His parole supervisor would show up at his doorstep and bang on it until he opened, just to ensure that he was home because the bracelet had alerted him something was wrong/he was somewhere he shouldn’t have been. Something I certainly didn’t know was that one requirement of following the rules of probation was that you aren’t allowed to be around others with criminal records, which my uncle unfortunately didn’t follow. Luckily for him, he was able to stay out of trouble and find a job to keep himself busy until he finished out the remainder of his sentence on parole and was “set free.” Something that was said in the video that really surprised me is the rates at which we subject crime offenders to probation and parole- “one in every fifty five adults in this country is either under probation or parole supervision. He also stated that that is around 4.5 million people and growth of over 239 percent since 1980.” To me, this is a sobering fact that truly opened my eyes to see how big our corrections system has grown in comparison to the 1980’s. Something we’ve talked about quite a bit in class is the huge prison boom that has happened since the 1980’s up until now, but something we hadn’t really mentioned up until now was the statistics on how much our probation and parole system had grown. Although, if we take into consideration how much higher our jail and prison populations would be if these 4.5 million people on parole/probation were also added to the population, it would nearly triple. This is absolutely shocking for me to even think about because of just how large I thought our corrections system already was, not even to mention the absurd cost for housing this many people. GMan219711
Part 2: When Ebony Ruhland began her portion of speaking during the video, I was quite impressed by her professionalism and her knowledge on the subject. She went into more depth on what exactly is all involved in the probation and parole programs. She said that there are different types of violations a person in these said programs can commit that would send them back to jail or prison. One of these types of violations includes a technical violation, which is simply just “misbehavior” by the offender. It itself is not a criminal offense and does not usually result in an arrest, but it is some sort of action or non-action that breaks the contract the offender signed when they joined one of these supervisional programs. Some examples of technical violations include failing a drug test, being caught out past curfew, not being employed or attending school when they’re supposed to be, and missing a scheduled visit with their supervisor, although there are quite a few more. Often times, for a technical violation the offender will be given a sanction, which, according to google, is some sort of punishment in hopes of quickly correcting the behavior and giving them one last chance. In my personal opinion, I believe our probation and parole programs are pretty close to how they should be and will continue to develop, hopefully for the better, but without them, our prisons and jails would be almost triple what they are now and our correctional costs would skyrocket even higher. This is why I believe it is highly needed and an effective way at giving those non-violent crime offenders a second chance, as well as not disconnecting them from the outside world (families, friends, work, school...etc). GMan219711
Part one: I found this video very informative, so much that it was hard to keep up at times. At the beginning of the video out with the scale of the control of supervision. He said that there are 1 in 55 adults that are under probation or parole supervision. In 2007, that declined by 11 percent, which isn’t much, but it’s a start. Mr. Horowitz also said that in a study, that all growth in the 1980s was not do to crime, but more admissions per arrest. Also in the 1990s, there were longer lengths of stay per admission. There was a growth because of more people or crime, but more are under supervision in the criminal justice system. Three quarters of people under supervision for nonviolent and half of people exit supervision successfully. About 305,000 go back to jail every year, in do to many states admissions on probation or parole. What I found interesting was that in about 36 states have reduced in crime rates, some by 20 percent or more. In New York, the majority of people are probation for a felony that started out as a misdemeanor. A program there had reformed the whole system, causing a decrease in arrests and people coming into probation. The program had evolved from a, quote; more supervision the better to research informed one size fits one community based system. Also, the program found that merit based credit worked. What merit based credit does is reduce the amount of time, people who are doing well, they go to their probation officer, or things like that. I found this idea very interesting because, one I had never thought about that idea before. I found that idea could work, as long as the individual is still checking in with their probation or parole officer. Another reason I found it interesting is that if this turns out that it could actually work, think about how that could impact the rest of the United States. Another one of the ladies on the panel said that, “those closest to the problem are closer to the solution”. Which I believe is true. Her program plans to cut the prison population and the mass supervision in half by 2030. –Adventureflight711
I agree with you that 11 percent decline in the people that are under supervision is not a lot. I think that It was only 500k+ people that were released from the probation and parole supervision. That might seem like a big number standing by itself but when you compare it to the 4.5 million people that are under supervision it barely makes a dent into it. It is a start like you said, now that we have the ball rolling hopefully more people who do not need to be under supervision are not being put under it and people who do not need a long supervision get an appropriate sentence. -ClarkKent711
Part 2: The last lady on the panel said that “probation can be more difficult than prison sometimes”. It can be more difficult for a number of reasons; one of them being is that there are too many conditions to follow. The number of them varies from state to state, which can be anywhere from 25 to 30. An example of a condition would be not going to places that serve alcohol. Which can be anywhere from baseball games, restaurants, or grocery stores. This means they might not be able to just hang out with family and/or friends. That can be hard, epically for people who suffer from alcoholism or basically any type of addiction. Also, they cannot get a car loan without notifying their probation or parole officer. They cannot go to a casino. Sometimes it can just be a random condition, like; you cannot handout with known convicts. That could range you’re your family to your friends. If an individual violates the condition, they can go to jail or prison, which is sadly often the case. Often an individual will have multiple violations. There are many complexities of probation, but sometimes the probation or parole officer don’t have any other options after providing sanction after sanction. Her solution was putting less people on probation, and look at other intermediate sanctions. Other intermediate sanctions, such as, community service, ankle bracelets, or maybe even no supervision at all. Which I at first didn’t understand at first, and then as she went on I eventually did. She argued that paying for the privilege of supervision can be expensive. She gave the example of paying 60 dollars a month for 5 years on probation or parole. There are some circumstances that an individual can be on probation for life which can be very costly. In some states they can be on probation anywhere from 25 to 30 years, which can be very expensive. There are also more fees that an individual must pay. The fees may include drug testing, anger management classes, life skills classes, attorney fees, etc. If an individual does not paying fees there probation or parole maybe revoked. I wondered what would happen if someone, or the individuals family, didn’t have enough money to pay all these fees. Could they do community service or maybe if or when they find a job that a certain percentage of their pay goes toward that. This means at the end of the day they might not be able to provide for their family. I found that everyone who was on this panel had some interesting ideas on how to fix this system. –Adventureflight711
(Part 1)The first speaker, the male speaker, started off by saying that if the state fails to act on the parole and probation system then they’ll suffer from an increase in crime, drug use and higher incarceration. But if they act accordingly and successfully than there will be a reduction in the recidivism rate and the levels of incarceration will decrease. There has been a 239 percent growth of people under supervision since the 1980s, that is 4.5 million more people. Another way to look at is that 1 in 55 adults are under probation or parole. In recent years there has been a decline in people under supervision, 581,000 people. That seems like it is a big number but comparing it to the 4.5 million people under supervision it is not. The growth in people is not just all males, women have seen a massive growth. Women being put under supervision has grown by 1 million people. The speaker gave an eye opening example to compare that growth to. If the 1 million growth was a city it would be in the top 10 biggest cities. Just like people under supervision is not solely a male or female thing it is also not solely one race. Even though it is not solely one race, African Americans are 3.5 times more likely to be put under supervision than Caucasians. It might seem like all hope is lost when people are put under parole and probation but half of all people under supervision exit it successfully. On the other side of that coin the parole and probation system has become a feeder program for prisons. 50 to 70 percent of prison emissions are from violations of probation.-ClarkKent711
(Part 2)The next speaker started off talking about how New York City has reformed its system and because of that there has been a reduction of arrests. It is not because New York City has been arresting fewer people or less people are being put under supervision but because of the reforms. People who should not be put under supervision are not put under supervision. People who are a low risk offender are also put under a shorter supervision sentence. The last speaker in the black jacket started to talk about how hard it is to stay out of trouble being under probation with all the rules they are given. One of the rules they must follow is that they must stay away from all places that sell alcohol. That is nearly everywhere, they cannot go to a ball game, restaurants and even chucky cheese. Another place that people in the probation system is that they cannot go is to casinos. Some other rules they must follow is that they cannot get a car loan or even hang out with people who have a criminal conviction even if they are family. If they violate these rules they could be sent back to jail. Most of the time if they are sent back to jail it is because they missed an appointment or they pissed dirty. Even then they are given a couple of chances because the PO does not want to send them back. Another reason that the person might go back to jail is because they are not paying their fines. Probation can be expensive but it is adjusted to your income. You cannot be send back to jail if you physically cannot pay your fines, but if you are buying expensive things such as phones and TVs you are deemed able to pay back your fines and sent back to jail if you cannot. People like to think that probation is a couple year sentence but it can be a life time. You could be under supervision for 25 to 30 years. With all of these chances of being sent back to jail PO’s like to give out incentives for your good behavior. Some of the incentives that they can get are a reduced sentence, gift cards, and sometimes they crowdsource money so that they can get you items that you need such as a laptop. The speaker in the yellow jacket had a good response to what probation is. Probation is not a privilege but your sentence, probation is inclusive to jail not its alternative. So if you screw up on probation you will be sent to jail. Some people are taking a year in jail instead of a 5 year probation sentence. In the question segment one of the questions to the panel was are the mentors to the people under supervision compensated. The answer was that these mentors are compensated and to be a mentor they must have a criminal justice background. It is 5 mentors to 20 young people. Another good question to the panel was that is the incentive program working to stop recidivism. The answer was the there has not been a lot of research to if it does or does not stop recidivism. They go on an say that punishments do not work but what does work is that the incentive of early discharge. -ClarkKent711
When it was said it was adjusted to their income, I think that should be how it is because you cannot judge off of someone's wage. People of all color and occupations can commit the same crime. That will not stop a person. I understand everyone has different viewpoints as well. I think it is a little annoying though how they are going off of big cities though such as New York City. Although New York City is very diverse, the income there is different from around here. So their statistics will be different from our statistics. I am curious if with this study that will be taken into consideration because I believe it should. I just dont like how race and money are thrown into every topic possible with this. Because instead of the concern with inmates' behavior and what goes on in the inside it is more a factor of oh well they have enough money or they do not. If we aim to help them do better, we have to aid them first and bargain for the fact if they have a lower income that they will just be back. That is not the way it should be or looked at.-notacop711
Part 1...Some of the facts in this video were pretty interesting. One of the first facts that really jumped out at me was when they said that is some states, fifty to sixty percent of all of the people that arrested and taken to jail were people that had violated either their probation or their parole. That number to me is just crazy. I would think that of course there would be quite a few people going back to jail from violating their paroles or probations but I never would have expected the numbers to be that high. Continuing to watch the video though there are some things that makes me believe these numbers, such as how someone can be on probation for life. I had no idea that you could be on court supervision or probation for life. If you mess up at all for any reason you are going to go to prison. Just as an example one of the girls in the video said that you could be paying sixty dollars a month just to be on probation and not to be in jail. Imagine being on probation for live and having to pay sixty dollars every month. One of the other examples that was said in the video was that one of the police officers sons was on probation at the age of thirty was sentenced to seven years of probation. I never thought that probation would be more then maybe three years. This guy got seven and when he could not afford to keep paying his fees every month, his mom had to start paying for them and they asked the judge if he could get his fees reduced and in return for that he got even more fees and he received more time that he has to serve on probation. I think that probation is a great way for non violent and non dangerous people to do their time. They are able to still go out and do things with their friends and family depending on his agreements, he is still pretty much a free man until he messes up again, he just has to check in with is probation officer, take some drug tests and pay his fees once a month and we are not spending 80,000 dollars a year for him to be sitting in prison. Also in the video one of the ladies says that by the year of 2030, they were going to try to have the entire prison population of inmates cut in half. That is going to take a lot of work. I do not think that we as a country could not get there some day but i think that it may take longer than just twelve more years. Youre talking about taking over a million people out of prison and letting them back into the streets. It was very interesting when they were talking about how some state facilities would send the judges around 50,000 for every kid they did not send to their facility because how the judges loved that so they could provide that kid with better resources and they could find better ways to try to turn that child's life around to where he will never end up back in the correction system. -Steel711
part 2... Another point that was brought up earlier in the video was that one of the girls brought up that maybe some of the people with longer probations should be able to get off of probation earlier if they have been on good behavior. I think that would really make some one that is on probation stop and think about what they were doing if they knew they could get of of probation earlier for good behavior. I think that would be a good idea to test and try out on some of the people who are on probation for some really low level crimes and see how it goes from there. Some of these people are going to be on probation for too long anyways. In the video Deanna says that she knew a person that took a year in prison over five years on probation just because of how much all of our cities are ‘Over Policed”. I am not sure that I really agree with that. Why does she think that we are over policed? Yeah, it stinks for the people on probation if cops are constantly driving by them, but if they are doing nothing wrong then they should not have anything to worry about. But there are some things that I could understand why she would say that. I do not think it should be violating your parole if you just get a low speeding ticket, or if you get caught peeing outside where you are not suppose to. Those things I feel should not warrant them to be put into jail. -Steel711
One in 55 adults are on some type of court supervision. That number may seem low to some but in reality that is not a good number to see especially with our population and how big the United States is. There has been a 11% decline since 2007 though with the amount of people on supervision. There are actually more than a million women in the United States under supervision, this number truly surprised me because I feel as if I have heard that women have lower numbers of any type of crime rate to men and I feel as if that number is just higher than I really bargained for. The women factor has doubled since 1990. The man said that blacks are 3.5 times more likely to be on supervision than whites. Statistically, I understand that because it has been proven. But at the same time I am curious what the differences in incarceration are with that. Four in ten people are on supervision for a misdemeanor in the united states and for the majority of people in New York City, they are on probation for a felony conviction. The majority of their people with misdemeanors actually had started out with a felony with that before leading into the plea and supervision part. I like how they implemented programs to help younger children with the recidivism rate and to reduce crime. They were successful with the age group of 16-24 year olds. -notacop711
I agree with you that 1 out of 55 people are on probation, is a big number , but I think we could have more. I think if we really wanted to America could have a much bigger number of people on probation. It also surprised me that we have over a million women on probation, I am curious as to why that is. I would like to know what kind of crimes they committed, and the severity of the crime. It also surprised me that our probation, and parole numbers are decreasing, I wonder why that is. I think we should ultilize supervision as much as we can. I-Like-Cereal711
part two: I think that the positive changes that are trying to be made are working and are impressive but it is unfortunate that we will always have a horrendous crime rate. The woman talked about the grant and for her to look into multi state funding and figuring out corrections and reducing prices while giving inmates the most humane way of life with living in institution. I like how they will be listening to state policies and looking into that and the parole terms. She is trying to better and give an understanding with all the fees dealt with community corrections and all that goes into that. She also talks of money and how if someone can not pay their fees and dues it is easier for their probation and parole to be revoked. I understand that it is something extremely unwanted and wished upon but at the same time it is unfortunately how the law works. If you do a crime it does not matter your age, race or way you sleep at night, it is all about the fact a crime was committed and now you have to live on and with that. 1.7 million dollars were made upon this. Probation officers jobs can be cut and salaries can be cut upon not collecting supervision fees. They are doing this study in 7 states. -notacop711
I agree, many people aren’t able to pay the fees that come along with going into jail and then probation or parole. It can be very costly. Most criminals it is harder for them to keep jobs. Or even some of them are locked up because they were selling drugs on the street and that is their job. Plus drug dealers are known for making a lot of money and they know a real job will never account for what they make out on the streets. That is why rehabilitation facilities are a big deal and need to be taking into consideration and more need to be put up even though they are timely and costly. It opens up more jobs and helps former offenders get involved with the community and have a safe place to be or stay. This also allows for doors to open for them to build relationships with others and can allow for them to succeed in their future. ProbdrinkingStar$’s711
PART THREE They hit it hard in this on rehabilitation. Which is awesome because continuing the arrest of someone ultimately will not do anything for that person. People do not learn from just getting locked up, they need help and they need treatment to really understand what the root of the problem is. The law is the law, so officers cannot truly go out and do much for people cause if they have to arrest them, then that is what will be done. Police can offer assistance and guidance as a simple hey, you should talk to this person, i think he could really help you or guide you in the right direction. But once the person faces incarceration or is out on parole and probation, at that point we really just hope they will help themselves so we do not have to throw them back into the system and I firmly believe cops and other administrators do not just want to throw them in jail because it is costly to have someone sit there all day and they are paying for their meals and stay, literally. -notacop711
Part 1: I agree with with the speaker named Jake when, he said the system has flown under the radar for too long, and it should be a top priority to reform probation, and parole. I think that we could greatly change Americas and it's communities if we utilize probation more. He also states that when we fail to act, and use the system our communities suffer higher incarceration rates. That is completely true, because if we keep locking people up for minor drug crimes obviously our incarceration rates will increase. I think that we don't have enough people on probation or parole. One out of fifty five, that's it. I think that if we have these programs to keep people out of prison then why don't we use them. 500,000 people on supervision is a lot, but as the speaker said it barely even makes a dent. Out of the 4 million people we have in jail, only 500,000 of them are on either probation or parole, that is not enough. I think it is good that we have seen our supervision numbers steadily increasing, especially for women, but I still think we need more. I think it's interesting that race has an effect on who is more likely to get supervision. But my question is why do black males get supervision more than white males. The speaker didn't really go into detail and I am curious as to why that is. I think the system is very flawed, we do not even have some states reporting how many certain races are even on probation or parole. I think it should be mandatory for all states to accurately report their corrections figures. I don't not agree with some states slipping through the radar like that. I think people that commit violent crimes should be put and prison, I think that if you hurt someone, you do not deserve to be in community, under supervision. People who commit non-violent crimes should be the only ones eligible for supervision. Like the speaker sad ⅔ people in the United States are on supervision for a non-violent crime, I think that other 33 percent of people who committed a violent crimes should be in jail. The system has shown to be successful, over half the people who exit supervision have been successful and have not gone back to jail. Why don't we use supervision more, we could save so much more money. Why are so many people getting revocations when they apply for probation or parole, sure it depends on the severity of the crime but why are so many people getting denies supervision. I-Like-Cereal711
Part 2: The commissioner stated some very interesting reports. I think it is good that most people in the state of New York are on probations for felonies or misdemeanors, i'm just curious as to what kind of felonies do you have to commit to get denies parole or probation. The system is clearly working, they are seeing reductions in arrest, incarceration rates, it is just making the criminal justice system look better in general. I think it's good that they also monitoring who is getting parole and probation, and who is getting revoked. I disagree with the point that she stated, that people who commit low risk crimes, and have low risk behaviors, don't need as much supervision. As to some people who have more high risk behaviors and crimes. I think people are also going to act differently, depending on the amount of supervision over them. Obviously if you supervise someone more intently they are going to try harder to not mess up. If you loosely monitor someone, they might try to be sneaky, and get away with more things. But I also think that all people on probation or parole should be monitored the same, so people don't think they will be getting away with anything. They are on parole or probation for a reason. One size fits all. She's got the right idea, probation, should and is being used for a second opportunity, and a room to grow. Some people see probation as don't mess up or you are going to go back to jail. I think all states should model their probation, and parole after New York. I think we will see a major decline in incarceration rates. So it's not saving them money but, but it is also not overly expensive to have an individual on probation or parole. It will create more opportunities, and give people a future. People who have felonies already struggle with some sort of problem, so why put them back into jail to ruin their life more. They will not have any place to go when they get out. I think probation and parole programs are the right way to if we want to better America. I-Like-Cereal711
Watching the video really informed me on the topic of parole and probation. As Jake stated in the video one in every fifty five adults in the US is under supervision of parole or probation. If you look at the population of our country, nearly 350 million citizens, that is an insane number. It's a very high number, in my honest opinion. As that indicates that we have a high crime rate in our country, it also means that we are making an effort to not overflow our jails and prisons. As they already are overflowing. It makes the fact that we are realizing the issue stand out. We don't need to be sending a 19 year old teen he or she to prison for 25 years, for a lb of coke. People make mistakes. People can change and the liklihood of the offender of reoffending in the future is slim. They are 19. That is where Probation comes in to play. This is where it is very useful. Instead of ruining his life, and locking him up for the rest of it, he can get time on probation. He can get the help he needs. If we were just locking everybody up and throwing away the key, we would not be progressing as a country. As a society. Alot of the men and women we put in jails and prisons these days just made a poor choice of judgment. We need to be putting the violent offenders in their spots. Murderers, rapists, thiefs. As in the video they states New Yorks approach to probation. New York calls it a one fits one deal. Basically they try and figure out what they need to do to fix and better the offender. They will get them the help they need and it is less likely for reoffending. Those are my views on the video and probation. -Bearsfan98
"That is where Probation comes in to play. This is where it is very useful. Instead of ruining his life, and locking him up for the rest of it, he can get time on probation. He can get the help he needs. If we were just locking everybody up and throwing away the key, we would not be progressing as a country." was a very powerful statement, it was strong the way you worded it and I completely agree. Because we lock people up so often there are many people going back to jail when they get out due to not having a start back into the world. When someone is in probation they can (a good amount of the time) still have their job, families, etc. Probation is really good for helping people "progress" as you said because not only does the officer guide them on their visits or see how they are, they are surveillanced in a way, and are also still active community members. -Tanlion_nala711
Part one: One approach that they talked about was how different crimes were receiving the same probation. That someone who had committed a lesser crime still had eyes on them like a hawk, but so did someone that had committed a higher crime. When in reality they could have spent less money and time on the person that committed a lesser crime because they know that he does not have any intention on doing a crime again and more than likely he learned his lesson. Over the years more and more communities have put organizations in their communities to help offenders to not reoffend. These organizations provide a shelter, and food for the offenders as the first get out of jail. Many offenders loose connection with their family and when they do get released their family doesn’t want anything to do with them because of the crime they have committed. And then left out on the streets with nothing. Then these organizations help them get a good job so they have a steady income and then able to provide for themselves to make a better life. They then have a less likelihood of reoffending and ending up back in jail. But sometimes we run into the issue that probation issues can be worst then locking people up and having them incarcerated. For example one of the examples is that you have to abstain from places that serve alcohol. But almost everywhere sells alcohol nowadays, like football games, most restaurants, even some kid events and also almost every grocery store sells alcohol. Another example, is that you can not get a car loan without checking with your probation officer. So if you are married and you need another car so your wife says ‘hey, let's buy a car’ and in order for your name to be on the car loan, you have to check with your probation officer. Also you can't hang out or be around people that have criminal records, so if a family member or one of you close friends has a criminal record, you are not allowed to be around them. This makes for people that are on probation a very hard task. There are very many rules that you have to abide by and if you break one of those rules then you have to go back to jail and serve the rest of your probation time. This is then filling up unneeded spots in the jail that need to be used for people that have committed a higher crime. And it is wasting the taxpayers money, because it is very costly to have someone locked up in jail. ProbdrinkingStar$’s711
Part two: Rehabilitation is a great solution but funding for these facilitiations can be very timely and costly. With living in the state of Illinois we have no money to be spending on anything. We need to be gaining money so we have more to offer for people that are in need of help and don’t have the support system for it at home (for example, stop funding road construction when the roads are perfectly fine). We need to worry about our safety as to others and helping others that are in need of help. Like providing a rehabilitation facility, or more community service, or the ankle bracelets without supervision, more and more of the less occupied supervision for the lesser crimes that people commit. Even though as a whole, probation has decreased, but women being on probation have increased. Today, we are locking more and more people up for minor, silly crimes. When in reality we need to be focused on the people that are committing crimes like homicide, sexual assault, and kidnapping not the simple crimes like marijuana because it is legal in some states. African American women are more likely to be put on supervision when on probation than caucasian women. We are criminalizing people of color and have more police supervision around neighborhoods that are heavily populated with people of color. Therefore, more people, are more likely to get caught for a crime because police are everywhere. That’s when they run into the issue of people getting caught for silly crimes but still have to do the time because of what they did. Another issue is that a lot of people do not have the funds to pay for their court or the financial need that comes with being on probation or parole. You have to pay your supervisor, you have to pay for the breathalyzer in your car, you have to pay for the ankle bracelet that tracks you wherever you go, and you have to be very conscientious about your surroundings and where you are at so you don’t get in trouble. Your paying all this money so you didn’t have to go to jail, not because you want to end up in jail. This is a big topic that they talked about in the video. I also enjoyed that there were different ethnicities talking about the different issues and how they had their own views and opinions. There was also only one male and four females talking about their research. Putting females in males positions is also another big topic today. ProbdrinkingStar$’s711
I think it is ridiculous how even if someone has done a worse crime than the next they still look at the two people the same. I think some of the people who get probation should just be let off easy, no person should probably have enough probation to last 30 years or if they did then it probably would not take them 30 years to figure out they should not have done the crime to get them in that position again. I would disagree with you that the police are driving around places with more people of color. I know that many cops drive mostly around where there is more crime to be reported which would be statistically where the more lower class citizens live and not particularly where people of color live. -MyHandle711
Part one: Reforming Probation and Parole to Promote Success was an extremely interesting video overall. Jake was the first to speak and slapped us with some extremely interesting facts and statistics. The first chart he showed is about the scale of community supervision and control. He said that one in fifty-five adults in this country is under probation or parole supervision: “we are talking about 4.5 million people, we are talking about growth of 239 percent since 1980.” he continues to say, “it peaked in 2007, since then probation has decreased by eleven percent.” After these facts (which is figure one at the panel), Jake moved to figure two after that which, as he put it, “covers more of the ‘natural stuff’.” He said that most of growth in the 80s was not due to crime it was due to more admissions per arrest to prison and almost all the growth in the prison population than 90s wasn’t due to crime. It was due to longer length of stay per admission to prison. Then he moves to figure four, this covers who is impacted by this system of community. There are more than a million women currently under supervision in this country, it’s doubled since 1990. This would have shocked me in the past when I did not study criminal justice, but now it does not shock me at all. The reason I am no longer shocked is because women and crime has been at a high for a long time. It does make sense for so many to be on probation BUT I think the main reason that women are on probation rather than prison is because of social stereotypes. He also went on to say that African Americans are 3.5 times more likely to be placed under supervision than a Caucasian. This simple fact helps prove how prejudiced the criminal justice system is when it comes to both women, skin tone, or race. The criminal justice system is one thing that should not be prejudiced.
Another thing to look at next in the video (directly after almost) is that fact that there is an absence of study on Hispanics. There are Hispanics on probation, as Jake Explained but is still complete common sense, we just don’t have the numbers because they are not recorded. Honestly, I believe that this area NEEDS to be covered not just because of the absence but because they are a part of the population as well. Even though they cover a lot of the immigrant population, they still remain in the country and are arrested just as others so they should be a part of the probation and/or parole count. Because they are not included, in research, this gives us an inaccurate study as well.
To end, Probation is something I might look into doing in the future and knowing. Though it is something that could help keep people out of trouble it could also land them back. As I noticed in one comment on the blog and addressed in the panel is that the more conditions added onto an “agreement” the more likely it is for that person to get in trouble. So the pros: A person can interact with their community instead of remaining behind bars. Probation is also cheaper for the state. But again it isn’t that easy in all states because things change in all. -Tanlion_nala711
Part two: I noticed a few people in comments are addressing this same thing about New York and how most of the people there are on probations for misdemeanors or felonies. Honestly, I think that is a really good decision. Though there are those that do deserve to be locked up, there are lot that don’t. Even though they are not behind bars they are getting the supervision that they need. There was a problem that I did here in the panel and that said low risk should get less supervision and high risk should get more. Yes that does make sense BUT that also depends on the offense that was made. I Feel that someone that does a lesser crime should get the same type of supervision as someone else depending on the offense. If it is a reoffending type of thing on the same crime then up the supervision, if it doesn’t seem to happen again then lower it. On another note there are two different ways that probation could be seen. One: Don’t mess up or you’re going back to prison (I think I-Like-Cereal711 said that in their response as well) and Two: A second chance. I feel like the for Peoria Courthouse personally from my internship that most of their goals is to help those people have a second chance at world. I like the way they run but there are a lot out there that don’t think that way let it be civilian or officer. I know there are a lot out there that think that jail and prison is the solution to everything but I personally believe that Probation and Parole are stronger and healthier choices. Especially if that state or county has a re-entry program on top of that. -Tanlion_nala711
I agree that probation and parole are better choices than incarceration. I think that all too often in our society people are quick to judge and this leads to a population that doesn't really care about what happens to those currently in the criminal justice system. There's a lot of the "don't do the crime if you can't do the time" mentality floating around that I believe to be poisonous to our society. A lot of these same people are people that are lucky enough to have never been caught or born into a lifestyle that allows them to not have to worry about committing crime. What we really need to do is be more empathetic towards people, criminal or not, and try to realize they are people as well and deserve to be treated like such. I would also suggest that while probation and parole are better solutions than incarceration, I'd like to see a change in how we run those programs. I'd like to see a bigger focus on rehabilitation rather than retribution or punishment. Avatar711
Part one: I found this video so interesting, they said something about women had a high number is being under supervision and watched over. Probation supervision is provided to adult’s offenders who have been sentenced to some type of supervision. While on this supervision the probation officer is to refer the offender to community resources for things they need help with such as a job, some kind of treatment, maybe even drug test for supervise substance abuse, or even using an electronic monitor to know the offender’s location. They say its approximately 1-55 adults in the United States were under community supervision. Right now, many people that are paroles and probation officers are watching a lot of people. I agree with what one of the ladies said, that they kind if want to put people with some of the same time period. Which I agree because people don’t need a long period of supervision. Say, a person makes a simple mistake but got on probation I feel like a year may be to much. She also said that they think that having resources and things to do well help with rearrests and help them go the right direction. Usually when someone get out of jail they will need a lot of help because someone people don’t have nothing when coming out. So, Probations can be a help instead of someone you need to avoid to not get rearrested. People that get out of jail will need some way to revive and they will don’t anything to live. Most people that get out for something really serious his hard to get back up on their feet. There are jobs that are not allowing them to work their because they think it’s a risk, they got family that don’t want to tale them back in. it can be hard to not get rearrests and with a good support system probation can give them that. According to this article, it says “The adult probation declined by 1.4% from January 1, 2016, to December 1,2016, falling by 52,500(to 3,673,100). It also says that 4.5 million people are on probation, half of them will exit probation successfully. Which I am very happy about because more people are seeking some type of help and getting off probation. Which gives the probation officers a good look. It is known that North Carolina has a low rate of people that returns to probation. -babyblue711
part two:. Which is good as well because they are the first to have that kind of rate, most people get sentenced to have probation so it plays a big part and rates get very high because some stuff will be petty crime and that person will get probation. In 2016, Probation exits increased from 2,043,200 in 2015 to 2,071,400 in 2016. Exits from parole decreased from an estimated 463,700 in 2015 to 456,000 in 2016. I think the rates in 2016 were pretty good because things are starting to change and they are seeking help or getting in those programs to help them grow. They say the probation cost went up but I think it is well worth it because they are putting their all into that person or all the resources they could give and I believe you already have to pay for certain stuff when you are on probation such as tracking devices. Those tracking devices can go a long way because it helps the probation officer get a better look at who they are supervising and catch them real quick if they are doing something they aren’t supposed to. With technology today, it has a lot of benefits only because you can do a lot with it. I know they been had a way to just easy drug test but with technology you can get the right results as well. In the video they also mention the conditions and rules probation officers have to follow. They said that they really can hang around alcohol places. And we all know that the stop after a hard day in that kind of field so I know its hard for them. they also said that probation officers can’t hang around anyone with a criminal background. Which, kind of make sense because it would look a little fishy with you being in that field and its not a good look on that probation officers because they are in the law enforcement. Me wanting to be a probation is going to be a good experience I got a lot if info from this video and some articles I looked at. It takes a lot of work to be able to deal with different type of people and keep track of them. But, being a big help to them is really important. You never know who live you can really turn around.-BABYBLUE711
I agree when they mentioned about putting some people on the same time period. Depending on what the person did, they might not need a really long sentence. I also thought it was awesome when they said that half of the people will successfully complete their probation. I didn’t know that North Carolina has a low rate of people that return to probation. I wonder which state has the highest. I can see how the increase in cost for resources can be helpful but it could also make it more difficult for the person if they have to pay. I agree when you said that you never know who’s lives you can turn around. Some of the people that struggle the most can become very successful in life. -Soccer31711
Part 1 I find the idea that our incarceration/probation rate has increased not because of of an increase in crime but because of us becoming more punitive is something that should be hammered into everyone's heads. I’ve made this point before but I think it bears repeating and that's that all too often we see gloom and doom in the news, and while there is plenty of that to go around I think news organizations would be doing the general public a great service if they brought up stuff like this. So many people think our world is riddled with crime, and while there is a lot of crime, in general we’ve become much safer than we ever have been. But we still see policies aimed towards being tough on crime and are still perpetuating a failing war on drugs. Another good point I think that is made in this video is the over the stop stopulations that go into probation. For example it’s brought up that a person on probation might have 20-30 stipulations they have to meet otherwise they end up in prison. Now to me, this seems like you are just asking for somebody to fail. Some of these stipulations include things such as not going to a place that serves alcohol...well guess you just aren’t leaving the house then? Unless you just want to go to fast food restaurants, but even they are starting to serve alcohol. Or having to check in with your probation officer before buying a car. I’m not sure I see the logic behind that unless it has something to do with ensuring the probationer is being smart financially...but I’m not sure that that is usually a probation officers job. Then there’s the stipulation that a person can’t be around people with a conviction. I think the logic is sound here but in practice it’s severely flawed. Perhaps someone’s mother, father, brother, sister, or any close relative has a conviction. The probationer is now expected to just not be around family? Family is one of the best support systems a person has and taking that away is just increasing the odds someone is going to violate the conditions of their parole. I can understand that they might want to keep them away from say gang members, but maybe think more specifically about what type of former offenders they can be around and less broad as they seem to do now. Avatar711
Part 2 I’ve always thought probation seemed like a better alternative to prison, and I guess it still is, but how it is set up currently just seems like it’s not really solving anything just delaying the inevitable as a lot of these people on probation end up in prison anyway because of harsh probation restrictions. So perhaps we should look into how we do probation. Maybe instead of placing all these restrictions and punishing bad behavior we should instead focus on incentivizing good behavior. Like maybe if they were to get a job that would mean less time having to visit the probation officer. Or if they were to pursue a degree or trade school they might knock some time off their sentence. It doesn’t seem like it should be too difficult to see the rationale behind these ideas and think it might be a good idea to try them especially considering what we are doing now just isn’t working. Unless of course you happen to own a private prison, then I guess it’s working out pretty well for you. I was pretty shocked to hear Ebony make a remark about how there are some states that have probation sentences that can 25 years long. I can’t imagine that it’s even possible for someone to successfully complete that program. Even without someone monitoring you I’d be willing to bet the vast majority of people couldn’t go a year without committing some sort of crime, let alone 25 years and with someone monitoring you. There’s always a part of me when hearing about these kind of things that always says “well if they wouldn’t violate their probation then there wouldn’t be a problem.” And I think many other people have that thought but never take the time to really take a look at their own lives and see how so many of us are just one mistake away from being sent down that path. And it’s really too bad because I think if we as a society can all learn to have a little more empathy or at least just try to see things from another perspective we might really be able to do some good in our communities. But I think a big problem is that so many people have an out of sight out of mind mindset which allows them not to care about what happens in our criminal justice system. So far those people have been lucky enough to not have to deal with it but I’m afraid that when they do they’ll wish that more people had worked to change our system. Avatar711
Part 1 There is a difference between probation and parole. A person can be put on probation before jail time and a person can be put on parole after jail time. In the begging of the video they stated some statics that I thought were interesting. They said that one in fifty five adults are either on probation or parole and that rounds out to about four point five million people. That number really surprised me. I knew that there was a lot of people on supervision but I wasn't expecting that number. They have seen a growth of two hundred thirty nine percent since the year of nineteen eighty. They said that there has been a small decrease by eleven percent. When they were discussing about who is impacted about this system of community supervision, some things stood out to me. There is more than one million females under supervision and I know we have talked about how females are committing more crime today then in the past but I didn't think that number was going to be over one million. I also found it interesting that african americans are three point five times more likely to be under supervision then people who are white. When I heard that, something doesn't seem quite right about that. I feel like african americans are being targeted a little more. I also thought it was weird that the states don't report hispanics. How come the states don't report that? More that three quarters of the people in America are being supervised for non violent convictions. I can see this as being a good thing because they’re not automatically putting them in jail or prison. -Soccer31711
Part 2 People who should automatically be put in jail or prison are people that have murdered, or raped someone, etc. But the downside of being put on probation is that probation can get very expensive and some people will chose to go to jail for a year instead of doing five years of probation. They have found that a little over half of the people successfully complete supervision and I think that’s really good. If you have a long probation sentence, that can be really hard to complete depending on the person's finances. Probation has been seen as just a way to avoid being rearrested. They’re trying to change that by turning it into something that gives the person an opportunity and a way to help them grow. They’re having the staff trained and they’re trying to come up with something that has a better case planning. They’re trying to look at one person and think of ways that can help that one specific person. The downside of this is that the price has increased but the increase has not been blown out of the water. They talked about how probation can be more difficult than prison. Probation conditions can be very difficult. In some states a person can have twenty five to thirty probation conditions. I know that there can be quite a few conditions but I didn't expect it to be that high but I guess also depends on what the person did and why they’re on probation. If a person is on probation and one of their conditions is to stay away from places that have alcohol, that person can't go into a restaurant or a grocery store or a gas station that has alcohol. I feel like grocery shopping can get a little difficult. If a person is on probation in Wisconsin, that person can’t get a car loan without checking with their probation officer first. Another condition can be that the person cant be around people that have criminal records. One of your family members can have a criminal record and that person can’t be around them. If a person has one technical violation, their chances of being revoked is pretty low. If that person has multiple technical violations, their chances of being revoked is higher. They suggested that there should be less people put on probation and they should start enforcing more community service or ankle bracelets without supervision. I could see this happening but I feel like getting everyone on the same page might be difficult. Being on probation can be very expensive. You have to pay a lot of fees. Some of the fees are supervision, drug testing, anger management or life skill classes, court, and most likely attorney fees. These are ordered as a condition if a person is on probation. If the person is not paying, they can be revoked. There was a woman that has a son who is on probation for a lot of traffic violations and he has a seven year probation sentence. He has a job and he’s trying to stay financially stable but the fees cost a lot and the mother has stepped in and she is trying to help pay some of the fees. This makes me sad but it made me sadder when they tried to get some of adjusted and they ended up adding on more stuff and increased the cost even more.They talked about wanting probation officers to be more as an assistant and I think that is a great idea. I think they should be assisting them and helping them try to stay of of jail or prison. I didn't know a lot about probation before this and I didn't know all of the factors that play into it. I thought this was really interesting and I’m glad that they’re trying to make changes to help people be more successful with getting off probation. -Soccer31711
Honestly I do not want to sound unintelligent but there were a lot of words that I had to look up during this video but I was still able to find topics I had more opinions about than others. One being why Is the cost of probation so high in certain states. For example they had said one of the states per month that the cost was sixty dollars a month. Why does the cost have to be so high? What if you can not afford to pay for it but you need to stay in? Can you ask to pay it like a loan and take the probation and pay after the probation is done, sort of like a loan? Also another thing that caught my interest was that only more than half of the people that go into probation get out successfully. I believe they said this is because some get into trouble while in probation and get it revoked and others cant pay the fee. They also said there was a reduction in New York City of the number of arrests and a reduction of probation and because of this they are allowing people who need to be on probation to not be in anytype of probation. I feel like if the city or a large number of people think you should be on probation or a judge asks for you to go it needs to be 100% ruled for the person to be in some type of probation. I do think they should lower the costs of probation. People from around where I live even think it is an outrageous cost because in some cases everytime you go to see your probation officer or you have a meeting you have to pay a flat fee which I believe to be ridiculous. I think that you should have to pay but if you do not have the money at that current time or have troubles with money they should find a workaround for the individual instead of making the person sell their own goods to make the needs of the payment. I think it is stupid how the probation companies drop or revoke people's probation just because they can not pay for it, Hospitals even have medical cards for people who can not afford the costs of going to a medical facility. Going later to the meeting they talk about how one of the ladies thinks there should be much less people in probation as of this current state. I would have to absolutely agree that just having a single night in jail can change a person and their prospective and then that person would not have to need any type of probation from that point forward. She also says how this is because some of the people who get sent to jail are mostly low risk which would mean most of them should not need any type of need for probation. I think it is dumb how even if the person committed the smallest of crimes if the judge says that person needs probation then that person will have to get probation for the certain amount of time the judge will set their mind to. The next person who asked a question really started a god one by asking about how the probation will handle an individual going through any type of mental health relapse or addiction relapse. I think personally if a person starts or has already had a mental health problem in any reported case then the person should not be going to a probation of any type but rather they should be put straight through a test to see how intense their mental health problem is and how the test should be handled would depend on whether the person is capable of not going back into a relapse and if they can not. If they are capable of relapse then they should be sent straight to a rehab instead of serving a probation. Another man in the stands had a question about the caseload of the probationary officers and I personally would like to say that I think the officers have too many cases to work properly and for the officers to work correctly they need to cut down on how many people they have to handle at a time. -MyHandle711
Part one: I am going to start with the physical observations I acquired from this video interview. The first, was the ratio between male and females on the board. It was encouraging to see major roles being filled with highly experienced women. There was a good representation between African American and Caucasian races, however, there was a lack of Hispanic influence. The room was filled with people, there were some who had to stand; I feel this means they had a better turn out than what they had previously thought. As a whole this board was extremely thought provoking as it gave a great deal of information and facts addressing probation and some parole. One of the members on the board shared with the audience that 4.5 million people are on probation across America. The peak of probation was in 2007; since then probation has decreased by 11 percent. One million women are on probation, that number has doubled since the 90’s. This is not too surprising, as the number of women committing crimes is currently at an all-time high. It only makes sense for there to but a drastic increase of women on probation. African Americans are 3.5 more times likely to be placed under supervision than a Caucasian. It is unequal and unjust for an African American to have a greater chance to be placed on probation. It’s worth our time and resources to level the playing field for them; lives are changed daily from this inconsistency. Another interesting avenue in probation is the overall lack of studies and research on Hispanic. There are Hispanics on probation, however, we simply don’t have numbers on them. I feel this is an area which needs to be improved upon; as this is a total blind spot in our probation department. Probations and parole have grown immensely in the past twenty years. There are many advantages to probation; one of them being its much cheaper for the state to place someone on probation than in prison. Another advantage is the individual remains within their community while if placed in prison they are removed from their friends and family, which means for most, the emotional support is gone. With this, I think probation is a good alternative over prison in some cases. Probation is significantly different from state to state. Therefore, there are different probation conditions and rules to adhere by. There can be as many as 30 conditions that could be added on to a probation sentence, some can be fairly random like paying child support. By having more conditions to follow, there is a higher likely hood the individual will struggle to obey them all. Which then leads into technical violations, with so many technical violations the probation sentence could potentially increase in length. I was unaware of this side of probation. The majority of people, would rather be in jail for one year than probation for five years. CoalRoller711
ReplyDeleteDear CoalRoller711 I appreciate and agree with a lot you have said. I also notice the ratio of female to male on the panel and it was very nice to see such highly educated women in such important position on the board/ panel. I also thought that we need to improve the resources and put more effort into keeping track of the hispanics who are under probation. I think that it is ridiculous that we don't have numbers or tracking on them. I feel as though the conditions that the probationers are held to help them but can also hinder them. Such as how they can’t be around other criminals I understand but what if their family members are criminal and that can ruin their support system and also their family relationships.- mmmchicken711
DeletePart two: Some think the conditions during probation are too extreme to follow them all. Research has proven that sanctions are less affective than incentives when applying them to probation. Although there is a great lack in incentive studies. However, the few studies that have been done, show promising results. The incentives come in many different forms, one being the use of gift cards and similar avenues. The courts try to tailor needs and wants of the individual. They are trying to address each case as an individual, one size does not fit all. I think this approach is far more personal than being general when interacting with the probationer. By gearing probation to fit them more personally, the people on probation are more likely to be successful and not recidivate. It just makes sense. 4.5 million people are on probation, half of them will exit probation successfully. I am surprised to hear this number is as high as it is, due too all the conditions and other facts in probation. But I am excited that it is half of 4.5 million, it’s a great start to strive for a higher success rate. North Carolina, is experiencing great amounts of success with recidivism. They have reached 46 percent of their probationers who haven’t recidivated. They are the first in the country to have such a low rate of people return to probation. They have revolutionary numbers. Its encouraging to see the difference, and the difference that has yet to happen in other states. The overall goal of probation is, for probation to be cut in half by year 2030. I feel like this is a huge task to undergo, however, with 11 percent in reduction already there is a chance this goal could potentially be reached. There are so many lives that could be changed through this honorable goal of probation. At the end of the presentation the board allowed the audience to ask some questions. I thought this was good as it opened the floor up for feedback. I thought the overall presentation was phenomenal, and very informational. -CoalRoller711
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I just wanted to say your post was extremely well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Your first sentence, in which you mentioned that some people think the probation conditions are too extreme to all be followed, I think I would have to admit to being one of those people. Sure, there are studies that may say otherwise, but we don't know if it would be different if there weren't so many rules and regulations. I do like that you mentioned making each case individualized because I believe it would do significantly better in preventing recidivism. I do have to agree with the fact you mentioned you were surprised about- the one in which you said half of the people on probation will successfully complete their supervision, but then again, there are quite a few people on probation and parole who simply made a stupid mistake and aren't generally crime offending people- a lot of times they're law abiding citizens who go to school or work and have families, which makes it unlikely for them to recidivate. For this reason, I believe this is why that number is so high. GMan219711
DeletePart one, While watching this video the first thing that stuck out to me was that Jake said that “ one in every fifty five adults in this country is either under probation or parole supervision. He also stated that that is around 4.5 million people and growth of over 239 percent since 1980.” I thought that that was so mind boggling to hear and that you are walking past multiple people everyday who either under probation or parole or you don’t even know it. The growth from 1980 to 2018 is about a 6.3 percent growth each year. I feel like it is better to put them in probation or parole more so than keeping them in the prisons because it is saving us money but also letting them get back into society and also be able to start providing for their families again but also it can help them straighten their life out and hopefully not recidivate. In 2014 the probation percentage was at forty two percent for misdemeanor convictions, twenty five percent of all probationers are women and fifty four percent of probationers were white. When While listening to all of Jake's statistics and findings i was wondering why he did not mention hispanics only blacks and white. But Jake brought up that the reason there is no percentage for the hispanic is because the states don’t report it. I do agree with jake that we need to learn more about that and how much would that increase the probation and parole rates. Another interesting point in the video is that roughly half exit supervision successfully but jake said that at the federal level is are some problems and they don’t know what happens of 1 out of every 5. I think that New York’s approach to probation is so interesting but also so fair. The approach that stated was that they have “evolved from a compliance based the more supervision the better and the one size fits all approach to probation to a research informed one size fits one and community focused process of probation so in the city they have calibrated all of their caseloads and they have also started specialized caseloads for adolescents and young adults because even though they present like a third of their people on probation they account for almost half of all rearrest behavior that they see. So they have turned probation into a stage of opportunity in the system and a stage of growth rather than just a compliance base of avoiding rearrest as a goal.” I think that we could learn from what New York is doing with their probation system and that could really help stop recidivism especially in adolescents and young adults. Also it helps give them a better future but also stop the cycle from repeating itself throughout their future generations. Even though they said that the probationer costs went up I think the cost is worth it the reward in this case and that paying closer attention and having calibrated caseloads will be very beneficial. mmmchicken 711
ReplyDeletePart two, Until Ebony started talking I didn’t really think how much went into probation but also the general conditions that they have to follow and how hard it could be like when she used the how they can’t go to places with alcohol, I never thought about how many places actually have alcohol and how it can be difficult to follow the conditions that have been set that they have to follow. Also it they can’t hang out with anyone else who has a criminal record. I think that that is kind of sad especially if like she said it is a family member or a friend. For me that was an eye opening part of the video on the struggles that they have to face a deal with but on the other side it is the price of staying out of prison and on probation. Also when they started to talk about incentives that probationers get i thought that that was a great way to keep them on the right track and although that might not seem like a big deal to us I feel has if it could mean a great deal to them and help them realized that we recognize when they are doing things right and also how they can impact what is happening on probation. I was surprised to hear that in an example used someone took 1 year in prison than 5 years probation. It is smart to look at ways to decrease the percentage of technical violations and New York had decreased the filing rates adults technical violation by five percent and juveniles by under two percent. I think that is a smart place to because earlier it said that is another reason how probationer get their probations revoked. mmmchicken711
ReplyDeletemmmchicken your paragraph was very well written and it explained this article very well. I do agree that when talking about the statistics they should include Hispanics and others not just white and black because yes they are the majority but they still have a number on the community. When she did bring up the violations of probation it is indeed very sad about how they take action to some people, for example when they won't let them see other people with criminal records because some of their families and/or friends have criminal records, the alcohol one I can understand to a point, because they shouldn't be able to purchase alcohol but they shouldn't be restricted to go somewhere that sells it because most restaurants, gas stations, etc. Overall you had a great response.
Delete-z33 711
I agree with you said the conditions and rules the probation officers have to follow are kind of strict but self-explanatory. Them not being able to be near alcohol or hanging with criminal people kind of explains itself. You are representing the law enforcement not only that but you are following up on someone else and you shouldn’t do the same stuff they are doing. Probation officers have to set a good example just the police officers. But, being able to help those people that make mistakes in their life is key because you can help change their life.-babyblue711
DeletePart 1:
ReplyDeleteAmmy Solomon who is the Vice president of the criminal justice system teams with Jake Horowitz who is the Director of the Public Safety. Jake talks about how the system has flown underneath the criminal justice for too long and should be fixed. Jake talks about how when we fail on the system we get returning offenders and recidivism is high. 1 in 55 adults is under porale supervision which is very high, but it was at the highest peak in 2007. The growth in the 80's wasn't due to crime it was due to the "more admission to arrest in prisons" and how everyone who was arrested in the 90's were elongated arrested. They talk about how the unit per arrest has increased by a long shot and keeps increasing.
Jake talks about what has the biggest impact on the criminal justice system, they talked about how race, culture, sex, etc. has an effect and how depending what you differ in you are more likely to be under supervision. At 5:52 in the video it states that three-quarters of the people that are under supervision are being supervised for a non-violent crime. (More than half of the people exit supervision successfully) three hundred fifty thousand individuals every year get admitted into a prison from supervision. At around 7:24 they say that the country is a "feeder system" not a system that alternative to incarceration. Most of the incarceration in prisons are the revocation of coming of parole.
Ana Bermudez then takes the stand and she is the Commissioner of probation. Ana did some research in New York City and she talks about how the country has and had been taking the wrong approach to how we handle people under supervision. For example, people who are doing a misdemeanor have been receiving the same amount of treatment as someone that has committed a felony. However, in NY they have been getting fewer arrests which in return has caused the number of people under supervision to decrease as well. Her main point is to get the US to get off the compliance-based processes. At 13:00 people they talk about how there has been an increased budget and she defends by saying that people of the lower people under supervision they have been able to invest more money and time into people. Ana talks about how they have increased the number of contracts that they have with communities so that they can lower the risk of coming back to prison.
Deanna Hoskins then talks the mic, her organization wants cut correctional population in half in 12 years. She explains that for her goal to come true she had to go into the reason why the incarceration rate is so high and then they talk about how Arkansas is one of the highest incarceration rates of the US. And then explains how people just need some assistance such as campaigns and just need some initiative. She then talks about crime how people of black or brown communities do get a more strict watch and how this does have an effect on the system.
-z33 711
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteEbony Ruhland then takes the mic, Ebony started explaining about the violations inside the criminal justice system and how that has an effect on the system. She talks about how there are technical violations which force the probation officer to put them in jail, she does explain that they give them sanction, after sanction, after sanction and the officer's hands are pretty much tied at that point. and she talks about how things can help such as community service and community groups and she goes into the fact that these people that want supervision have to pay, on average, 60$ a month on just the supervision fee, then you add the drug tests, anger management, life skill classes, attorney fees, etc. and if you miss any payment then you are put back into prison. She talks about how that most courts do give away to anyone who "doesn't have the means to pay" but if the court sees that you clearly have the means to pay but you are misplacing your priorities then they will have no problem putting you back to finish your sentence.
Ammy then tells Ebony about how someone came up to her before airing and explained to her about how she has a son who only had traffic violations and since they piled up they gave him 7 years of probation and the amount of fees and conditions that come with probation has drained his bank account and when they went to the courthouse to see if they can adjust the fees so he can live without worry they added more fee's. Ebony talks about how most of these sentences given to these people are not completed because the requirement is too demanding and cannot be met. Most PO's (Probation Officers) give incentives to good behavior probationers because these will make them continue to do the right thing. Especially young people if they are doing the right thing they will assist with things like laptops, books, gift cards, etc.
Deanna explains on how people would rather do 1 year in prison then 5 years of probation because of our community cycle, she explains how probation is not a privilege it is a alter route than going to jail because if you mess up on probation then you are still going to go to jail.
I appreciate that when discussions let people who are watching and listening to ask their questions. For example, the question answered to this women about how people who have a criminal conviction affect them and their chances of becoming what they want to be, and she explains how when someone has a record they are basically flagged and when they apply to because, for example, if someone applies to become a corrections officer then the board would get together and look at there files and history and would determine if they would have a positive effect on their probationers because people who have been in probation generally have a longer bond and are more willing to help someone because they know what it feels like to be there.
This was a very good discussion on how the criminal justice needs to reform away for corrections to decrease the population and reduce sentencing and help more people.
-z33 711
I really like how you noticed how they waited and let people ask questions. It really gave the feeling of a true discussion. Not only did they talk amongst themselves they let others in and ask and get answers for questions we all were thinking. This was a very eye opening and interesting discussion about how reform can help make the criminal justice system better. -pizza711
DeleteThe movie “Stand By Me” showed a lot of theories that we discussed in class. In the movie Vern had discover that a star her had been killed near their homes. Vern decides to tell everyone else and they all decide to go see the body by walking there. Vern knew where the body was because he over heard the two body Billy and Charlie discussing it. On the the way to the body they learn a lot about themselves and also they show the theories in several ways. The first label that I saw in the movie was future labeling which was a dead body. They quickly said that once they found the body they were going to be on the news after they told everyone. Future labeling basically means when you label something that think might happen or put a label on a person if you think the label will fit them in the future. There was a lot of primary deviance being shown also. The boys showed primary deviance towards Vern in serval ways. Teddy always had something negative to say to Vern about his appearance. Also there was a lot of primary deviance shown against each other not just Vern. Primary deviance means people who see themselves and are seen by others also if negative labels are applied its part of the persons identity. Degradation ceremony was also shown in the movie and it means when you degrade someone into the label that you are putting on them. Another way primary deviance was shown in the movie is when Chris talks to Gordie in the woods about his teacher labeling him something that he isn’t. Chris was very hurt about being labeled by his teacher and peers. Informal labeling was another theory that was shown several times in the movie. Informal labeling basically means being labeled by parents, teachers or your peers. The boys showed informal labeling a lot throughout the movie by labeling each other with positive and negative labels. Also informal labeling was shown with not just the main characters but the other people in the movie. Gordie’s father showed informal labeling by labeling him before and after his brother died. Gordie’s father would say negative things to him that put so many labels on him. Gordie didn’t take his father labeling him well at all throughout the movie. Towards the end of the movie Gordie has a breakdown to his friend Chris about the labels that his father calls him. Basically Gordies father shows primary deviance and informal labeling throughout the movie towards Gordie. Gordie’s father showed both when his farther out a label on his friends. Gordie was a quiet boy that likes to tell stores to his friends. All of Gordie’s friends was dealing with being labeled in their own ways. His friend Chris labeled his own father as a drunk. Teddy deals with labeling because of him being burned and also being a joker. Vern was always labeled because of his weight and was timid. Informal labeling was also shown in the movie when Gordie tells the other boys a story about David Hogan. Which was about an overweight boy who is always teased and bullied. Informal labeling is being shown when Hogan enters the pie-eating contest and everybody including the host laughs and talks about him in a negative way. Also I think degradation ceremony was being used because everyone was degrading him into the label of being fat. David Hogan realizes it and want revenge. Differential association was shown in several ways. The group of boys was showed differential association because they were showing delinquent behavior throughout the whole movie when they started walking to find the body and before when they caught in the mans gate. They also all learned from each other in so many ways in the movie because they are all different. They also all leaned criminal techniques from each other. Which shows what differential association means. All four boys also Billy and Charlie showed the neutralization theory. Both of them had beliefs that allowed them to show delinquent acts based off one of their beliefs.
ReplyDelete-SR
In the video reforming probation and parole to promote success. They all have really interesting views and points about paole. However there was a few odd things about this video like the ratio from boy to girl, and the camera angle was weird and it was poor quality. Jake stated very interesting statistics like one in every fifty- five adults is either under parole or probation.He also talked about the statistics with different races. So basically there are a ton of people on parole or probation and we could be wrong with them and not even know. Then it talked about new york's way of doing things which i thought was extremely fair they talk about going to one fits all to more individual based.Parole and probation is just keeping people out of prison which saves money and helps people stay apart of community and lets them continue to provide financial and emotional support to their families. So I think parole and probation are very good things and we should continue to change them to make it a better success. And one way is how new york views it. Also how they focus on juveniles on parole even though they are only one third of people on parole/probation they are more likely to reoffend and go to prison so that should be a main focus and I like how they recognize that. One size fits one instead of one size fits all. And ebony had avery interesting view on probation and parole that it is as difficult or even more so than prison. So like 25 or 30 conditions, like places serving alcohol or not allowed so basically everywhere. So if one is violated they can go to prison or jail. But a lot of the time it is multiple violations that lead to incarceration. She believes the focus should be appointed to other things like community service. Fees like 60 dollars a month so supervision fee. So the normal person wouldn't be able to make it through the process. You can also be on prohibition for life and or like 25 years this is a little ridiculous. I did not realize that parole and probation had all of this conditions nr did i know that you can go on probation for life. However I would definitely chose a life on probation than a life in prison. With this all being said they can reduce their time by good behavior or their are gifts like textbooks and furniture so they get help to do better, so the are using incentives to promote good behavior. So a lot of people will choose one year in prison over five years of probation, this really stuck with me i really didn't think about how it might not be the better option. A Lot of proles are extended because of needed time to pay fees. They are on community supervision so they can be revoked alot easier if they dont pay and the can. Founds budget they 60 dollars a month so they need to have the money. Have to keep in mind what the goals are so we have to have common goals for this but they vary with state. Mental health probationers they don't really have an answer to because they don't have a lot of information on that. Also it's interesting how they can have people who were convicted of a crime be probationary officer this is cool. But they team up. This was a very interesting video I really learned a lot about probation and parole and how they work and differ between different states, this information was very surprising I did not know about all of the conditions or how easy it is to get revoked. I also never heard about all the fees that are involved with probation or parole. overall with all the information I learned i think we should continue to use probation but true and focus on other areas like community service so that we lower the population in parole and probation. -pizza711
ReplyDelete-Pizza711, I agree with you, probation and parole are good approaches for some things. As it allows the individual to remain in the community and it gives them more freedom to financially support themselves. I think that is a good approach, but I do agree, there are things that should be improved upon. Through parole and probation, the state saves millions of our tax dollars. As a member of the community and for someone who pays taxes, I am pleased that the state can save money through these to similar systems. As a side note, I also noted how the members on the board where divided by gender. I thought that to be interesting. It is encouraging to see women this high up in criminal justice. -CoalRoller711
DeleteJake Horowitz which is a director or the public safety performance project talks about the scale of community supervision control at the state level he stated 1 in 55 adults in the country is under probation or parole adult supervision which is about 4.5 million people growth of 239% since 1980. In 2007 it was a meaningful 11% decline 581 thousand 900 fewer people under supervision. Out of all those that are under probation and parole supervision he wanted to see how much of the growth was driven by natural stuff. The national capital studied that almost all the growth in the 80s wasn’t due to crime it was due to more emissions progress in prisons. The growth is prison wasn’t due to crime it was due to longer length to start your emissions prison. He found out probation crime and parole crime per unit crime or per unit arrest has grown. The growth of probation and crime is not because of more people or more crime it's repetitive of those under supervision it ecos the same incarceration they had over the last twenty. Thirty, forty years. There’s a hug growth of women incarcerated and under supervision more than one million and it doubled since 1990. It’s a racial thing they believe hispics has a much less crime rates than another race because hispanic crimes aren’t reported theirs are actually higher than any other race just don’t know how high. More than three quarters of people in this country that is under supervision is for a non violent conviction. More than half the people exit supervision successfully and one in five is unknown which isn't good at all. Ana Bermudez a Commissioner of New York department of probation state the majority of people that is on probation is on probation for a felony, conviction, and a lot of people that are on probation for misdemeanor convictions the case started as a felony. She seen a reduction in arrest, coming into probation. New York think the more super vision the better and the more eye on people the better. People that perform low risk of behavior don't need to be under supervision as long as they are put on. It shouldn’t be looked at as if “one size fits all” it should be viewed as “one size fits one” Deanna Hoskins She then talks about crime how people of black or brown communities do get a more strict watch and how this does have an effect on the system. Which I agree because like Jake said hispanics crimes don’t get reported but they’re higher than any other races.-KenzieLand711
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on that people who have low risk behavior don’t need to be supervised as much as someone with a higher risk behavior. Also found it interesting that in the 1980s the growth wasn’t do to crime, but due to more admissions process in prisons. I agree with the fact that it is a racial thing in some circumstances. Jake Morowitz, I think, said that people of color are 3 times more likely to enter the system than a caucasian person. Also the number of women in the system are increasing, since the 1990s. I did like that about 37 states have reduced in crime rates, some by 20 percent. –Adventureflight711
DeletePart One: So, to begin about the video Reforming Probation and Parole to Promote Success, I saw that they brought up a lot of good points. I did like that they talked about the statistics about the people in our country that are under court supervision. Which I was shocked to hear the gentleman say that more than half the people leaving supervision have not returned to supervision. Then hearing from Commissioner Bermudan that New York has a decreasing arrest rate and incarceration rate is great to hear. Especially the people on probation are the ones who have felonies and not something as minor as a non-violent crime. It was good to hear that New York is working on their corrections budget while investing into the community and giving back. While having contracts with communities to help decrease the correctional problem. While hearing Dianna’s part in the beginning she makes a valid point that where the problem is that’s where the solution is as well. She also does state that black and brown communities are extra policed. From my standing if we did slow down on the extra policing we can rebuild that repour with communities that usually don’t trust the justice system. Dianna’s plan to cut correctional problems by almost half by 2030 is an admirable goal and gives plenty of time to come up that strategical goal she would like in the end. A few reasons I could see this going through are getting the communities involved and more interested in ways that affect them in the long run. The community is the biggest help we can have when it comes to lowing the arrest rate in my opinion. Dr. Ruolin makes valid points that people on probation can’t go pretty much anywhere that serves alcohol. Which she asked the crowd where some places are, and someone one said Chuck E Cheese. That blows my mind that a child’s restaurant would even serve that. However, that immediate sanction for the persons are not something that ridiculous but a lot of the people on probation Dr. Ruolin stated that you must pay the fees that are included along the lines of the drug tests, and supervision fees. I however did not know some states can put on probation for 25-30 years. To me that seems a bit over the top for something could be possibly minor. The group did talk about how a woman’s son had probation for seatbelt and parking violations that gave him probation for 7 years. So, she had to step in and help pay those fines for her son. -Rollforinitiative711
ReplyDeleteThe behavior Dianna talked about that behavior reform to have that research for statistics. Dianna through a big right punch with that failing a drug test will send you to jail with no treatment for a heavy addiction. I agree with her about probation being a tool for case management to help recidivism. Commissioner Bermudan did state that a lot of cities are trying to reform the correctional system to help grow that repour with their communities. The probation offices sometimes having to worry about collections is sad due to having them worry about pay cuts. Then having Dr. Ruolin stating that one of the Probation directors cancelling the Christmas party due to low budget from lack of collections. Which if that comes to having to cancel your Christmas party then they must be using their budget in the wrong ways. The Commissioner did make valid points on low risk and medium risk individuals. While doing my internship at the Peoria County Juvenile Probation office, I saw each of the risk levels with the juveniles. It matters on how they are raised or not raised. Those kids had bad influences in their life and some did want to live a good life but where they’re from has more challenges for them but had a lower risk of reoffending. Some Juveniles I met had everything on a silver spoon and didn’t care about being there that was a high risk. This does come to show that where you come from is not always a problem, but it is still a small factor in your upbringing. The council did make a valid point about if someone is having a substance abuse problem they shouldn’t be in probation. They need to be in facility to habituate them back into society as a healthy community member. This would allow someone who needs to be on probation that space to get the help they need from the probation offices. Dianne made a great final point about substance abuse. How can they get help if they are criminalized and not given the help that they require? So, my answer to that is simple if they are arrested that they shouldn’t be criminalized and taken to get help. To end this, I will say that overall there is a lot we need to do for future generations of criminal justice followers. I for one like many others we are going to fight for the change that we need. -Rollforinitiative711
ReplyDeletePart 1: To start off, I’d like to start off by stating a key statement I read in the article given to us about probation and parole- it goes as follows: “the average daily cost of supervising a probationer in the fiscal year 2008 was $3.42, while the average daily cost of keeping an inmate in prison was $78.95.” To me, this is an outstanding difference, which truly leads me to believe parole and probation are seriously better options than sending someone to jail or prison, assuming they aren’t a danger to themselves or others around them in the community. To be perfectly honest, I’ve never really known a whole lot about parole or probation until watching this video and reading some articles about it. I never really knew what all was involved in it or how those being supervised under such programs are treated and what they’re expected to do. Something I did know, since my uncle was relatively recently on parole, was that they’re required to show up and submit a urine test (in a lot of cases depending on the offense) pretty often to ensure they’re staying clean. My uncle was given a tracking bracelet, like tons of people on probation/parolees are given today. Something that surprised me about this is that the bracelets aren’t all that great- his would malfunction all the time, sometimes even once every few days or once a week. His parole supervisor would show up at his doorstep and bang on it until he opened, just to ensure that he was home because the bracelet had alerted him something was wrong/he was somewhere he shouldn’t have been. Something I certainly didn’t know was that one requirement of following the rules of probation was that you aren’t allowed to be around others with criminal records, which my uncle unfortunately didn’t follow. Luckily for him, he was able to stay out of trouble and find a job to keep himself busy until he finished out the remainder of his sentence on parole and was “set free.” Something that was said in the video that really surprised me is the rates at which we subject crime offenders to probation and parole- “one in every fifty five adults in this country is either under probation or parole supervision. He also stated that that is around 4.5 million people and growth of over 239 percent since 1980.” To me, this is a sobering fact that truly opened my eyes to see how big our corrections system has grown in comparison to the 1980’s. Something we’ve talked about quite a bit in class is the huge prison boom that has happened since the 1980’s up until now, but something we hadn’t really mentioned up until now was the statistics on how much our probation and parole system had grown. Although, if we take into consideration how much higher our jail and prison populations would be if these 4.5 million people on parole/probation were also added to the population, it would nearly triple. This is absolutely shocking for me to even think about because of just how large I thought our corrections system already was, not even to mention the absurd cost for housing this many people. GMan219711
ReplyDeletePart 2: When Ebony Ruhland began her portion of speaking during the video, I was quite impressed by her professionalism and her knowledge on the subject. She went into more depth on what exactly is all involved in the probation and parole programs. She said that there are different types of violations a person in these said programs can commit that would send them back to jail or prison. One of these types of violations includes a technical violation, which is simply just “misbehavior” by the offender. It itself is not a criminal offense and does not usually result in an arrest, but it is some sort of action or non-action that breaks the contract the offender signed when they joined one of these supervisional programs. Some examples of technical violations include failing a drug test, being caught out past curfew, not being employed or attending school when they’re supposed to be, and missing a scheduled visit with their supervisor, although there are quite a few more. Often times, for a technical violation the offender will be given a sanction, which, according to google, is some sort of punishment in hopes of quickly correcting the behavior and giving them one last chance. In my personal opinion, I believe our probation and parole programs are pretty close to how they should be and will continue to develop, hopefully for the better, but without them, our prisons and jails would be almost triple what they are now and our correctional costs would skyrocket even higher. This is why I believe it is highly needed and an effective way at giving those non-violent crime offenders a second chance, as well as not disconnecting them from the outside world (families, friends, work, school...etc). GMan219711
ReplyDeletePart one: I found this video very informative, so much that it was hard to keep up at times. At the beginning of the video out with the scale of the control of supervision. He said that there are 1 in 55 adults that are under probation or parole supervision. In 2007, that declined by 11 percent, which isn’t much, but it’s a start. Mr. Horowitz also said that in a study, that all growth in the 1980s was not do to crime, but more admissions per arrest. Also in the 1990s, there were longer lengths of stay per admission. There was a growth because of more people or crime, but more are under supervision in the criminal justice system. Three quarters of people under supervision for nonviolent and half of people exit supervision successfully. About 305,000 go back to jail every year, in do to many states admissions on probation or parole. What I found interesting was that in about 36 states have reduced in crime rates, some by 20 percent or more. In New York, the majority of people are probation for a felony that started out as a misdemeanor. A program there had reformed the whole system, causing a decrease in arrests and people coming into probation. The program had evolved from a, quote; more supervision the better to research informed one size fits one community based system. Also, the program found that merit based credit worked. What merit based credit does is reduce the amount of time, people who are doing well, they go to their probation officer, or things like that. I found this idea very interesting because, one I had never thought about that idea before. I found that idea could work, as long as the individual is still checking in with their probation or parole officer. Another reason I found it interesting is that if this turns out that it could actually work, think about how that could impact the rest of the United States. Another one of the ladies on the panel said that, “those closest to the problem are closer to the solution”. Which I believe is true. Her program plans to cut the prison population and the mass supervision in half by 2030. –Adventureflight711
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that 11 percent decline in the people that are under supervision is not a lot. I think that It was only 500k+ people that were released from the probation and parole supervision. That might seem like a big number standing by itself but when you compare it to the 4.5 million people that are under supervision it barely makes a dent into it. It is a start like you said, now that we have the ball rolling hopefully more people who do not need to be under supervision are not being put under it and people who do not need a long supervision get an appropriate sentence. -ClarkKent711
DeletePart 2: The last lady on the panel said that “probation can be more difficult than prison sometimes”. It can be more difficult for a number of reasons; one of them being is that there are too many conditions to follow. The number of them varies from state to state, which can be anywhere from 25 to 30. An example of a condition would be not going to places that serve alcohol. Which can be anywhere from baseball games, restaurants, or grocery stores. This means they might not be able to just hang out with family and/or friends. That can be hard, epically for people who suffer from alcoholism or basically any type of addiction. Also, they cannot get a car loan without notifying their probation or parole officer. They cannot go to a casino. Sometimes it can just be a random condition, like; you cannot handout with known convicts. That could range you’re your family to your friends. If an individual violates the condition, they can go to jail or prison, which is sadly often the case. Often an individual will have multiple violations. There are many complexities of probation, but sometimes the probation or parole officer don’t have any other options after providing sanction after sanction. Her solution was putting less people on probation, and look at other intermediate sanctions. Other intermediate sanctions, such as, community service, ankle bracelets, or maybe even no supervision at all. Which I at first didn’t understand at first, and then as she went on I eventually did. She argued that paying for the privilege of supervision can be expensive. She gave the example of paying 60 dollars a month for 5 years on probation or parole. There are some circumstances that an individual can be on probation for life which can be very costly. In some states they can be on probation anywhere from 25 to 30 years, which can be very expensive. There are also more fees that an individual must pay. The fees may include drug testing, anger management classes, life skills classes, attorney fees, etc. If an individual does not paying fees there probation or parole maybe revoked. I wondered what would happen if someone, or the individuals family, didn’t have enough money to pay all these fees. Could they do community service or maybe if or when they find a job that a certain percentage of their pay goes toward that. This means at the end of the day they might not be able to provide for their family. I found that everyone who was on this panel had some interesting ideas on how to fix this system. –Adventureflight711
ReplyDelete(Part 1)The first speaker, the male speaker, started off by saying that if the state fails to act on the parole and probation system then they’ll suffer from an increase in crime, drug use and higher incarceration. But if they act accordingly and successfully than there will be a reduction in the recidivism rate and the levels of incarceration will decrease. There has been a 239 percent growth of people under supervision since the 1980s, that is 4.5 million more people. Another way to look at is that 1 in 55 adults are under probation or parole. In recent years there has been a decline in people under supervision, 581,000 people. That seems like it is a big number but comparing it to the 4.5 million people under supervision it is not. The growth in people is not just all males, women have seen a massive growth. Women being put under supervision has grown by 1 million people. The speaker gave an eye opening example to compare that growth to. If the 1 million growth was a city it would be in the top 10 biggest cities. Just like people under supervision is not solely a male or female thing it is also not solely one race. Even though it is not solely one race, African Americans are 3.5 times more likely to be put under supervision than Caucasians. It might seem like all hope is lost when people are put under parole and probation but half of all people under supervision exit it successfully. On the other side of that coin the parole and probation system has become a feeder program for prisons. 50 to 70 percent of prison emissions are from violations of probation.-ClarkKent711
ReplyDelete(Part 2)The next speaker started off talking about how New York City has reformed its system and because of that there has been a reduction of arrests. It is not because New York City has been arresting fewer people or less people are being put under supervision but because of the reforms. People who should not be put under supervision are not put under supervision. People who are a low risk offender are also put under a shorter supervision sentence. The last speaker in the black jacket started to talk about how hard it is to stay out of trouble being under probation with all the rules they are given. One of the rules they must follow is that they must stay away from all places that sell alcohol. That is nearly everywhere, they cannot go to a ball game, restaurants and even chucky cheese. Another place that people in the probation system is that they cannot go is to casinos. Some other rules they must follow is that they cannot get a car loan or even hang out with people who have a criminal conviction even if they are family. If they violate these rules they could be sent back to jail. Most of the time if they are sent back to jail it is because they missed an appointment or they pissed dirty. Even then they are given a couple of chances because the PO does not want to send them back. Another reason that the person might go back to jail is because they are not paying their fines. Probation can be expensive but it is adjusted to your income. You cannot be send back to jail if you physically cannot pay your fines, but if you are buying expensive things such as phones and TVs you are deemed able to pay back your fines and sent back to jail if you cannot. People like to think that probation is a couple year sentence but it can be a life time. You could be under supervision for 25 to 30 years. With all of these chances of being sent back to jail PO’s like to give out incentives for your good behavior. Some of the incentives that they can get are a reduced sentence, gift cards, and sometimes they crowdsource money so that they can get you items that you need such as a laptop. The speaker in the yellow jacket had a good response to what probation is. Probation is not a privilege but your sentence, probation is inclusive to jail not its alternative. So if you screw up on probation you will be sent to jail. Some people are taking a year in jail instead of a 5 year probation sentence. In the question segment one of the questions to the panel was are the mentors to the people under supervision compensated. The answer was that these mentors are compensated and to be a mentor they must have a criminal justice background. It is 5 mentors to 20 young people. Another good question to the panel was that is the incentive program working to stop recidivism. The answer was the there has not been a lot of research to if it does or does not stop recidivism. They go on an say that punishments do not work but what does work is that the incentive of early discharge. -ClarkKent711
ReplyDeleteWhen it was said it was adjusted to their income, I think that should be how it is because you cannot judge off of someone's wage. People of all color and occupations can commit the same crime. That will not stop a person. I understand everyone has different viewpoints as well. I think it is a little annoying though how they are going off of big cities though such as New York City. Although New York City is very diverse, the income there is different from around here. So their statistics will be different from our statistics. I am curious if with this study that will be taken into consideration because I believe it should. I just dont like how race and money are thrown into every topic possible with this. Because instead of the concern with inmates' behavior and what goes on in the inside it is more a factor of oh well they have enough money or they do not. If we aim to help them do better, we have to aid them first and bargain for the fact if they have a lower income that they will just be back. That is not the way it should be or looked at.-notacop711
DeletePart 1...Some of the facts in this video were pretty interesting. One of the first facts that really jumped out at me was when they said that is some states, fifty to sixty percent of all of the people that arrested and taken to jail were people that had violated either their probation or their parole. That number to me is just crazy. I would think that of course there would be quite a few people going back to jail from violating their paroles or probations but I never would have expected the numbers to be that high. Continuing to watch the video though there are some things that makes me believe these numbers, such as how someone can be on probation for life. I had no idea that you could be on court supervision or probation for life. If you mess up at all for any reason you are going to go to prison. Just as an example one of the girls in the video said that you could be paying sixty dollars a month just to be on probation and not to be in jail. Imagine being on probation for live and having to pay sixty dollars every month. One of the other examples that was said in the video was that one of the police officers sons was on probation at the age of thirty was sentenced to seven years of probation. I never thought that probation would be more then maybe three years. This guy got seven and when he could not afford to keep paying his fees every month, his mom had to start paying for them and they asked the judge if he could get his fees reduced and in return for that he got even more fees and he received more time that he has to serve on probation. I think that probation is a great way for non violent and non dangerous people to do their time. They are able to still go out and do things with their friends and family depending on his agreements, he is still pretty much a free man until he messes up again, he just has to check in with is probation officer, take some drug tests and pay his fees once a month and we are not spending 80,000 dollars a year for him to be sitting in prison. Also in the video one of the ladies says that by the year of 2030, they were going to try to have the entire prison population of inmates cut in half. That is going to take a lot of work. I do not think that we as a country could not get there some day but i think that it may take longer than just twelve more years. Youre talking about taking over a million people out of prison and letting them back into the streets. It was very interesting when they were talking about how some state facilities would send the judges around 50,000 for every kid they did not send to their facility because how the judges loved that so they could provide that kid with better resources and they could find better ways to try to turn that child's life around to where he will never end up back in the correction system. -Steel711
ReplyDeletepart 2... Another point that was brought up earlier in the video was that one of the girls brought up that maybe some of the people with longer probations should be able to get off of probation earlier if they have been on good behavior. I think that would really make some one that is on probation stop and think about what they were doing if they knew they could get of of probation earlier for good behavior. I think that would be a good idea to test and try out on some of the people who are on probation for some really low level crimes and see how it goes from there. Some of these people are going to be on probation for too long anyways. In the video Deanna says that she knew a person that took a year in prison over five years on probation just because of how much all of our cities are ‘Over Policed”. I am not sure that I really agree with that. Why does she think that we are over policed? Yeah, it stinks for the people on probation if cops are constantly driving by them, but if they are doing nothing wrong then they should not have anything to worry about. But there are some things that I could understand why she would say that. I do not think it should be violating your parole if you just get a low speeding ticket, or if you get caught peeing outside where you are not suppose to. Those things I feel should not warrant them to be put into jail. -Steel711
ReplyDeleteOne in 55 adults are on some type of court supervision. That number may seem low to some but in reality that is not a good number to see especially with our population and how big the United States is. There has been a 11% decline since 2007 though with the amount of people on supervision. There are actually more than a million women in the United States under supervision, this number truly surprised me because I feel as if I have heard that women have lower numbers of any type of crime rate to men and I feel as if that number is just higher than I really bargained for. The women factor has doubled since 1990. The man said that blacks are 3.5 times more likely to be on supervision than whites. Statistically, I understand that because it has been proven. But at the same time I am curious what the differences in incarceration are with that. Four in ten people are on supervision for a misdemeanor in the united states and for the majority of people in New York City, they are on probation for a felony conviction. The majority of their people with misdemeanors actually had started out with a felony with that before leading into the plea and supervision part. I like how they implemented programs to help younger children with the recidivism rate and to reduce crime. They were successful with the age group of 16-24 year olds.
ReplyDelete-notacop711
I agree with you that 1 out of 55 people are on probation, is a big number , but I think we could have more. I think if we really wanted to America could have a much bigger number of people on probation. It also surprised me that we have over a million women on probation, I am curious as to why that is. I would like to know what kind of crimes they committed, and the severity of the crime. It also surprised me that our probation, and parole numbers are decreasing, I wonder why that is. I think we should ultilize supervision as much as we can.
DeleteI-Like-Cereal711
part two: I think that the positive changes that are trying to be made are working and are impressive but it is unfortunate that we will always have a horrendous crime rate. The woman talked about the grant and for her to look into multi state funding and figuring out corrections and reducing prices while giving inmates the most humane way of life with living in institution. I like how they will be listening to state policies and looking into that and the parole terms. She is trying to better and give an understanding with all the fees dealt with community corrections and all that goes into that. She also talks of money and how if someone can not pay their fees and dues it is easier for their probation and parole to be revoked. I understand that it is something extremely unwanted and wished upon but at the same time it is unfortunately how the law works. If you do a crime it does not matter your age, race or way you sleep at night, it is all about the fact a crime was committed and now you have to live on and with that. 1.7 million dollars were made upon this. Probation officers jobs can be cut and salaries can be cut upon not collecting supervision fees. They are doing this study in 7 states. -notacop711
ReplyDeleteI agree, many people aren’t able to pay the fees that come along with going into jail and then probation or parole. It can be very costly. Most criminals it is harder for them to keep jobs. Or even some of them are locked up because they were selling drugs on the street and that is their job. Plus drug dealers are known for making a lot of money and they know a real job will never account for what they make out on the streets. That is why rehabilitation facilities are a big deal and need to be taking into consideration and more need to be put up even though they are timely and costly. It opens up more jobs and helps former offenders get involved with the community and have a safe place to be or stay. This also allows for doors to open for them to build relationships with others and can allow for them to succeed in their future. ProbdrinkingStar$’s711
DeletePART THREE They hit it hard in this on rehabilitation. Which is awesome because continuing the arrest of someone ultimately will not do anything for that person. People do not learn from just getting locked up, they need help and they need treatment to really understand what the root of the problem is. The law is the law, so officers cannot truly go out and do much for people cause if they have to arrest them, then that is what will be done. Police can offer assistance and guidance as a simple hey, you should talk to this person, i think he could really help you or guide you in the right direction. But once the person faces incarceration or is out on parole and probation, at that point we really just hope they will help themselves so we do not have to throw them back into the system and I firmly believe cops and other administrators do not just want to throw them in jail because it is costly to have someone sit there all day and they are paying for their meals and stay, literally. -notacop711
ReplyDeletePart 1:
ReplyDeleteI agree with with the speaker named Jake when, he said the system has flown under the radar for too long, and it should be a top priority to reform probation, and parole. I think that we could greatly change Americas and it's communities if we utilize probation more. He also states that when we fail to act, and use the system our communities suffer higher incarceration rates. That is completely true, because if we keep locking people up for minor drug crimes obviously our incarceration rates will increase. I think that we don't have enough people on probation or parole. One out of fifty five, that's it. I think that if we have these programs to keep people out of prison then why don't we use them. 500,000 people on supervision is a lot, but as the speaker said it barely even makes a dent. Out of the 4 million people we have in jail, only 500,000 of them are on either probation or parole, that is not enough. I think it is good that we have seen our supervision numbers steadily increasing, especially for women, but I still think we need more. I think it's interesting that race has an effect on who is more likely to get supervision. But my question is why do black males get supervision more than white males. The speaker didn't really go into detail and I am curious as to why that is. I think the system is very flawed, we do not even have some states reporting how many certain races are even on probation or parole. I think it should be mandatory for all states to accurately report their corrections figures. I don't not agree with some states slipping through the radar like that. I think people that commit violent crimes should be put and prison, I think that if you hurt someone, you do not deserve to be in community, under supervision. People who commit non-violent crimes should be the only ones eligible for supervision. Like the speaker sad ⅔ people in the United States are on supervision for a non-violent crime, I think that other 33 percent of people who committed a violent crimes should be in jail. The system has shown to be successful, over half the people who exit supervision have been successful and have not gone back to jail. Why don't we use supervision more, we could save so much more money. Why are so many people getting revocations when they apply for probation or parole, sure it depends on the severity of the crime but why are so many people getting denies supervision.
I-Like-Cereal711
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteThe commissioner stated some very interesting reports. I think it is good that most people in the state of New York are on probations for felonies or misdemeanors, i'm just curious as to what kind of felonies do you have to commit to get denies parole or probation. The system is clearly working, they are seeing reductions in arrest, incarceration rates, it is just making the criminal justice system look better in general. I think it's good that they also monitoring who is getting parole and probation, and who is getting revoked. I disagree with the point that she stated, that people who commit low risk crimes, and have low risk behaviors, don't need as much supervision. As to some people who have more high risk behaviors and crimes. I think people are also going to act differently, depending on the amount of supervision over them. Obviously if you supervise someone more intently they are going to try harder to not mess up. If you loosely monitor someone, they might try to be sneaky, and get away with more things. But I also think that all people on probation or parole should be monitored the same, so people don't think they will be getting away with anything. They are on parole or probation for a reason. One size fits all. She's got the right idea, probation, should and is being used for a second opportunity, and a room to grow. Some people see probation as don't mess up or you are going to go back to jail. I think all states should model their probation, and parole after New York. I think we will see a major decline in incarceration rates. So it's not saving them money but, but it is also not overly expensive to have an individual on probation or parole. It will create more opportunities, and give people a future. People who have felonies already struggle with some sort of problem, so why put them back into jail to ruin their life more. They will not have any place to go when they get out. I think probation and parole programs are the right way to if we want to better America.
I-Like-Cereal711
Watching the video really informed me on the topic of parole and probation. As Jake stated in the video one in every fifty five adults in the US is under supervision of parole or probation. If you look at the population of our country, nearly 350 million citizens, that is an insane number. It's a very high number, in my honest opinion. As that indicates that we have a high crime rate in our country, it also means that we are making an effort to not overflow our jails and prisons. As they already are overflowing. It makes the fact that we are realizing the issue stand out. We don't need to be sending a 19 year old teen he or she to prison for 25 years, for a lb of coke. People make mistakes. People can change and the liklihood of the offender of reoffending in the future is slim. They are 19. That is where Probation comes in to play. This is where it is very useful. Instead of ruining his life, and locking him up for the rest of it, he can get time on probation. He can get the help he needs. If we were just locking everybody up and throwing away the key, we would not be progressing as a country. As a society. Alot of the men and women we put in jails and prisons these days just made a poor choice of judgment. We need to be putting the violent offenders in their spots. Murderers, rapists, thiefs. As in the video they states New Yorks approach to probation. New York calls it a one fits one deal. Basically they try and figure out what they need to do to fix and better the offender. They will get them the help they need and it is less likely for reoffending. Those are my views on the video and probation. -Bearsfan98
ReplyDelete"That is where Probation comes in to play. This is where it is very useful. Instead of ruining his life, and locking him up for the rest of it, he can get time on probation. He can get the help he needs. If we were just locking everybody up and throwing away the key, we would not be progressing as a country." was a very powerful statement, it was strong the way you worded it and I completely agree. Because we lock people up so often there are many people going back to jail when they get out due to not having a start back into the world. When someone is in probation they can (a good amount of the time) still have their job, families, etc. Probation is really good for helping people "progress" as you said because not only does the officer guide them on their visits or see how they are, they are surveillanced in a way, and are also still active community members. -Tanlion_nala711
DeletePart one: One approach that they talked about was how different crimes were receiving the same probation. That someone who had committed a lesser crime still had eyes on them like a hawk, but so did someone that had committed a higher crime. When in reality they could have spent less money and time on the person that committed a lesser crime because they know that he does not have any intention on doing a crime again and more than likely he learned his lesson. Over the years more and more communities have put organizations in their communities to help offenders to not reoffend. These organizations provide a shelter, and food for the offenders as the first get out of jail. Many offenders loose connection with their family and when they do get released their family doesn’t want anything to do with them because of the crime they have committed. And then left out on the streets with nothing. Then these organizations help them get a good job so they have a steady income and then able to provide for themselves to make a better life. They then have a less likelihood of reoffending and ending up back in jail. But sometimes we run into the issue that probation issues can be worst then locking people up and having them incarcerated. For example one of the examples is that you have to abstain from places that serve alcohol. But almost everywhere sells alcohol nowadays, like football games, most restaurants, even some kid events and also almost every grocery store sells alcohol. Another example, is that you can not get a car loan without checking with your probation officer. So if you are married and you need another car so your wife says ‘hey, let's buy a car’ and in order for your name to be on the car loan, you have to check with your probation officer. Also you can't hang out or be around people that have criminal records, so if a family member or one of you close friends has a criminal record, you are not allowed to be around them. This makes for people that are on probation a very hard task. There are very many rules that you have to abide by and if you break one of those rules then you have to go back to jail and serve the rest of your probation time. This is then filling up unneeded spots in the jail that need to be used for people that have committed a higher crime. And it is wasting the taxpayers money, because it is very costly to have someone locked up in jail. ProbdrinkingStar$’s711
ReplyDeletePart two: Rehabilitation is a great solution but funding for these facilitiations can be very timely and costly. With living in the state of Illinois we have no money to be spending on anything. We need to be gaining money so we have more to offer for people that are in need of help and don’t have the support system for it at home (for example, stop funding road construction when the roads are perfectly fine). We need to worry about our safety as to others and helping others that are in need of help. Like providing a rehabilitation facility, or more community service, or the ankle bracelets without supervision, more and more of the less occupied supervision for the lesser crimes that people commit. Even though as a whole, probation has decreased, but women being on probation have increased. Today, we are locking more and more people up for minor, silly crimes. When in reality we need to be focused on the people that are committing crimes like homicide, sexual assault, and kidnapping not the simple crimes like marijuana because it is legal in some states. African American women are more likely to be put on supervision when on probation than caucasian women. We are criminalizing people of color and have more police supervision around neighborhoods that are heavily populated with people of color. Therefore, more people, are more likely to get caught for a crime because police are everywhere. That’s when they run into the issue of people getting caught for silly crimes but still have to do the time because of what they did. Another issue is that a lot of people do not have the funds to pay for their court or the financial need that comes with being on probation or parole. You have to pay your supervisor, you have to pay for the breathalyzer in your car, you have to pay for the ankle bracelet that tracks you wherever you go, and you have to be very conscientious about your surroundings and where you are at so you don’t get in trouble. Your paying all this money so you didn’t have to go to jail, not because you want to end up in jail. This is a big topic that they talked about in the video. I also enjoyed that there were different ethnicities talking about the different issues and how they had their own views and opinions. There was also only one male and four females talking about their research. Putting females in males positions is also another big topic today. ProbdrinkingStar$’s711
DeleteI think it is ridiculous how even if someone has done a worse crime than the next they still look at the two people the same. I think some of the people who get probation should just be let off easy, no person should probably have enough probation to last 30 years or if they did then it probably would not take them 30 years to figure out they should not have done the crime to get them in that position again. I would disagree with you that the police are driving around places with more people of color. I know that many cops drive mostly around where there is more crime to be reported which would be statistically where the more lower class citizens live and not particularly where people of color live. -MyHandle711
DeletePart one: Reforming Probation and Parole to Promote Success was an extremely interesting video overall. Jake was the first to speak and slapped us with some extremely interesting facts and statistics. The first chart he showed is about the scale of community supervision and control. He said that one in fifty-five adults in this country is under probation or parole supervision: “we are talking about 4.5 million people, we are talking about growth of 239 percent since 1980.” he continues to say, “it peaked in 2007, since then probation has decreased by eleven percent.” After these facts (which is figure one at the panel), Jake moved to figure two after that which, as he put it, “covers more of the ‘natural stuff’.” He said that most of growth in the 80s was not due to crime it was due to more admissions per arrest to prison and almost all the growth in the prison population than 90s wasn’t due to crime. It was due to longer length of stay per admission to prison. Then he moves to figure four, this covers who is impacted by this system of community. There are more than a million women currently under supervision in this country, it’s doubled since 1990. This would have shocked me in the past when I did not study criminal justice, but now it does not shock me at all. The reason I am no longer shocked is because women and crime has been at a high for a long time. It does make sense for so many to be on probation BUT I think the main reason that women are on probation rather than prison is because of social stereotypes. He also went on to say that African Americans are 3.5 times more likely to be placed under supervision than a Caucasian. This simple fact helps prove how prejudiced the criminal justice system is when it comes to both women, skin tone, or race. The criminal justice system is one thing that should not be prejudiced.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to look at next in the video (directly after almost) is that fact that there is an absence of study on Hispanics. There are Hispanics on probation, as Jake Explained but is still complete common sense, we just don’t have the numbers because they are not recorded. Honestly, I believe that this area NEEDS to be covered not just because of the absence but because they are a part of the population as well. Even though they cover a lot of the immigrant population, they still remain in the country and are arrested just as others so they should be a part of the probation and/or parole count. Because they are not included, in research, this gives us an inaccurate study as well.
To end, Probation is something I might look into doing in the future and knowing. Though it is something that could help keep people out of trouble it could also land them back. As I noticed in one comment on the blog and addressed in the panel is that the more conditions added onto an “agreement” the more likely it is for that person to get in trouble. So the pros: A person can interact with their community instead of remaining behind bars. Probation is also cheaper for the state. But again it isn’t that easy in all states because things change in all. -Tanlion_nala711
Part two: I noticed a few people in comments are addressing this same thing about New York and how most of the people there are on probations for misdemeanors or felonies. Honestly, I think that is a really good decision. Though there are those that do deserve to be locked up, there are lot that don’t. Even though they are not behind bars they are getting the supervision that they need. There was a problem that I did here in the panel and that said low risk should get less supervision and high risk should get more. Yes that does make sense BUT that also depends on the offense that was made. I Feel that someone that does a lesser crime should get the same type of supervision as someone else depending on the offense. If it is a reoffending type of thing on the same crime then up the supervision, if it doesn’t seem to happen again then lower it. On another note there are two different ways that probation could be seen. One: Don’t mess up or you’re going back to prison (I think I-Like-Cereal711 said that in their response as well) and Two: A second chance. I feel like the for Peoria Courthouse personally from my internship that most of their goals is to help those people have a second chance at world. I like the way they run but there are a lot out there that don’t think that way let it be civilian or officer. I know there are a lot out there that think that jail and prison is the solution to everything but I personally believe that Probation and Parole are stronger and healthier choices. Especially if that state or county has a re-entry program on top of that.
ReplyDelete-Tanlion_nala711
I agree that probation and parole are better choices than incarceration. I think that all too often in our society people are quick to judge and this leads to a population that doesn't really care about what happens to those currently in the criminal justice system. There's a lot of the "don't do the crime if you can't do the time" mentality floating around that I believe to be poisonous to our society. A lot of these same people are people that are lucky enough to have never been caught or born into a lifestyle that allows them to not have to worry about committing crime. What we really need to do is be more empathetic towards people, criminal or not, and try to realize they are people as well and deserve to be treated like such. I would also suggest that while probation and parole are better solutions than incarceration, I'd like to see a change in how we run those programs. I'd like to see a bigger focus on rehabilitation rather than retribution or punishment.
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Part one: I found this video so interesting, they said something about women had a high number is being under supervision and watched over. Probation supervision is provided to adult’s offenders who have been sentenced to some type of supervision. While on this supervision the probation officer is to refer the offender to community resources for things they need help with such as a job, some kind of treatment, maybe even drug test for supervise substance abuse, or even using an electronic monitor to know the offender’s location. They say its approximately 1-55 adults in the United States were under community supervision. Right now, many people that are paroles and probation officers are watching a lot of people. I agree with what one of the ladies said, that they kind if want to put people with some of the same time period. Which I agree because people don’t need a long period of supervision. Say, a person makes a simple mistake but got on probation I feel like a year may be to much. She also said that they think that having resources and things to do well help with rearrests and help them go the right direction. Usually when someone get out of jail they will need a lot of help because someone people don’t have nothing when coming out. So, Probations can be a help instead of someone you need to avoid to not get rearrested. People that get out of jail will need some way to revive and they will don’t anything to live. Most people that get out for something really serious his hard to get back up on their feet. There are jobs that are not allowing them to work their because they think it’s a risk, they got family that don’t want to tale them back in. it can be hard to not get rearrests and with a good support system probation can give them that. According to this article, it says “The adult probation declined by 1.4% from January 1, 2016, to December 1,2016, falling by 52,500(to 3,673,100). It also says that 4.5 million people are on probation, half of them will exit probation successfully. Which I am very happy about because more people are seeking some type of help and getting off probation. Which gives the probation officers a good look. It is known that North Carolina has a low rate of people that returns to probation. -babyblue711
ReplyDeletepart two:. Which is good as well because they are the first to have that kind of rate, most people get sentenced to have probation so it plays a big part and rates get very high because some stuff will be petty crime and that person will get probation. In 2016, Probation exits increased from 2,043,200 in 2015 to 2,071,400 in 2016. Exits from parole decreased from an estimated 463,700 in 2015 to 456,000 in 2016. I think the rates in 2016 were pretty good because things are starting to change and they are seeking help or getting in those programs to help them grow. They say the probation cost went up but I think it is well worth it because they are putting their all into that person or all the resources they could give and I believe you already have to pay for certain stuff when you are on probation such as tracking devices. Those tracking devices can go a long way because it helps the probation officer get a better look at who they are supervising and catch them real quick if they are doing something they aren’t supposed to. With technology today, it has a lot of benefits only because you can do a lot with it. I know they been had a way to just easy drug test but with technology you can get the right results as well. In the video they also mention the conditions and rules probation officers have to follow. They said that they really can hang around alcohol places. And we all know that the stop after a hard day in that kind of field so I know its hard for them. they also said that probation officers can’t hang around anyone with a criminal background. Which, kind of make sense because it would look a little fishy with you being in that field and its not a good look on that probation officers because they are in the law enforcement. Me wanting to be a probation is going to be a good experience I got a lot if info from this video and some articles I looked at. It takes a lot of work to be able to deal with different type of people and keep track of them. But, being a big help to them is really important. You never know who live you can really turn around.-BABYBLUE711
ReplyDeleteI agree when they mentioned about putting some people on the same time period. Depending on what the person did, they might not need a really long sentence. I also thought it was awesome when they said that half of the people will successfully complete their probation. I didn’t know that North Carolina has a low rate of people that return to probation. I wonder which state has the highest. I can see how the increase in cost for resources can be helpful but it could also make it more difficult for the person if they have to pay. I agree when you said that you never know who’s lives you can turn around. Some of the people that struggle the most can become very successful in life. -Soccer31711
DeletePart 1 I find the idea that our incarceration/probation rate has increased not because of of an increase in crime but because of us becoming more punitive is something that should be hammered into everyone's heads. I’ve made this point before but I think it bears repeating and that's that all too often we see gloom and doom in the news, and while there is plenty of that to go around I think news organizations would be doing the general public a great service if they brought up stuff like this. So many people think our world is riddled with crime, and while there is a lot of crime, in general we’ve become much safer than we ever have been. But we still see policies aimed towards being tough on crime and are still perpetuating a failing war on drugs. Another good point I think that is made in this video is the over the stop stopulations that go into probation. For example it’s brought up that a person on probation might have 20-30 stipulations they have to meet otherwise they end up in prison. Now to me, this seems like you are just asking for somebody to fail. Some of these stipulations include things such as not going to a place that serves alcohol...well guess you just aren’t leaving the house then? Unless you just want to go to fast food restaurants, but even they are starting to serve alcohol. Or having to check in with your probation officer before buying a car. I’m not sure I see the logic behind that unless it has something to do with ensuring the probationer is being smart financially...but I’m not sure that that is usually a probation officers job. Then there’s the stipulation that a person can’t be around people with a conviction. I think the logic is sound here but in practice it’s severely flawed. Perhaps someone’s mother, father, brother, sister, or any close relative has a conviction. The probationer is now expected to just not be around family? Family is one of the best support systems a person has and taking that away is just increasing the odds someone is going to violate the conditions of their parole. I can understand that they might want to keep them away from say gang members, but maybe think more specifically about what type of former offenders they can be around and less broad as they seem to do now.
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Part 2
DeleteI’ve always thought probation seemed like a better alternative to prison, and I guess it still is, but how it is set up currently just seems like it’s not really solving anything just delaying the inevitable as a lot of these people on probation end up in prison anyway because of harsh probation restrictions. So perhaps we should look into how we do probation. Maybe instead of placing all these restrictions and punishing bad behavior we should instead focus on incentivizing good behavior. Like maybe if they were to get a job that would mean less time having to visit the probation officer. Or if they were to pursue a degree or trade school they might knock some time off their sentence. It doesn’t seem like it should be too difficult to see the rationale behind these ideas and think it might be a good idea to try them especially considering what we are doing now just isn’t working. Unless of course you happen to own a private prison, then I guess it’s working out pretty well for you. I was pretty shocked to hear Ebony make a remark about how there are some states that have probation sentences that can 25 years long. I can’t imagine that it’s even possible for someone to successfully complete that program. Even without someone monitoring you I’d be willing to bet the vast majority of people couldn’t go a year without committing some sort of crime, let alone 25 years and with someone monitoring you. There’s always a part of me when hearing about these kind of things that always says “well if they wouldn’t violate their probation then there wouldn’t be a problem.” And I think many other people have that thought but never take the time to really take a look at their own lives and see how so many of us are just one mistake away from being sent down that path. And it’s really too bad because I think if we as a society can all learn to have a little more empathy or at least just try to see things from another perspective we might really be able to do some good in our communities. But I think a big problem is that so many people have an out of sight out of mind mindset which allows them not to care about what happens in our criminal justice system. So far those people have been lucky enough to not have to deal with it but I’m afraid that when they do they’ll wish that more people had worked to change our system.
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Part 1
ReplyDeleteThere is a difference between probation and parole. A person can be put on probation before jail time and a person can be put on parole after jail time. In the begging of the video they stated some statics that I thought were interesting. They said that one in fifty five adults are either on probation or parole and that rounds out to about four point five million people. That number really surprised me. I knew that there was a lot of people on supervision but I wasn't expecting that number. They have seen a growth of two hundred thirty nine percent since the year of nineteen eighty. They said that there has been a small decrease by eleven percent. When they were discussing about who is impacted about this system of community supervision, some things stood out to me. There is more than one million females under supervision and I know we have talked about how females are committing more crime today then in the past but I didn't think that number was going to be over one million. I also found it interesting that african americans are three point five times more likely to be under supervision then people who are white. When I heard that, something doesn't seem quite right about that. I feel like african americans are being targeted a little more. I also thought it was weird that the states don't report hispanics. How come the states don't report that? More that three quarters of the people in America are being supervised for non violent convictions. I can see this as being a good thing because they’re not automatically putting them in jail or prison. -Soccer31711
Part 2
ReplyDeletePeople who should automatically be put in jail or prison are people that have murdered, or raped someone, etc. But the downside of being put on probation is that probation can get very expensive and some people will chose to go to jail for a year instead of doing five years of probation. They have found that a little over half of the people successfully complete supervision and I think that’s really good. If you have a long probation sentence, that can be really hard to complete depending on the person's finances. Probation has been seen as just a way to avoid being rearrested. They’re trying to change that by turning it into something that gives the person an opportunity and a way to help them grow. They’re having the staff trained and they’re trying to come up with something that has a better case planning. They’re trying to look at one person and think of ways that can help that one specific person. The downside of this is that the price has increased but the increase has not been blown out of the water. They talked about how probation can be more difficult than prison. Probation conditions can be very difficult. In some states a person can have twenty five to thirty probation conditions. I know that there can be quite a few conditions but I didn't expect it to be that high but I guess also depends on what the person did and why they’re on probation. If a person is on probation and one of their conditions is to stay away from places that have alcohol, that person can't go into a restaurant or a grocery store or a gas station that has alcohol. I feel like grocery shopping can get a little difficult. If a person is on probation in Wisconsin, that person can’t get a car loan without checking with their probation officer first. Another condition can be that the person cant be around people that have criminal records. One of your family members can have a criminal record and that person can’t be around them. If a person has one technical violation, their chances of being revoked is pretty low. If that person has multiple technical violations, their chances of being revoked is higher. They suggested that there should be less people put on probation and they should start enforcing more community service or ankle bracelets without supervision. I could see this happening but I feel like getting everyone on the same page might be difficult. Being on probation can be very expensive. You have to pay a lot of fees. Some of the fees are supervision, drug testing, anger management or life skill classes, court, and most likely attorney fees. These are ordered as a condition if a person is on probation. If the person is not paying, they can be revoked. There was a woman that has a son who is on probation for a lot of traffic violations and he has a seven year probation sentence. He has a job and he’s trying to stay financially stable but the fees cost a lot and the mother has stepped in and she is trying to help pay some of the fees. This makes me sad but it made me sadder when they tried to get some of adjusted and they ended up adding on more stuff and increased the cost even more.They talked about wanting probation officers to be more as an assistant and I think that is a great idea. I think they should be assisting them and helping them try to stay of of jail or prison. I didn't know a lot about probation before this and I didn't know all of the factors that play into it. I thought this was really interesting and I’m glad that they’re trying to make changes to help people be more successful with getting off probation. -Soccer31711
Honestly I do not want to sound unintelligent but there were a lot of words that I had to look up during this video but I was still able to find topics I had more opinions about than others. One being why Is the cost of probation so high in certain states. For example they had said one of the states per month that the cost was sixty dollars a month. Why does the cost have to be so high? What if you can not afford to pay for it but you need to stay in? Can you ask to pay it like a loan and take the probation and pay after the probation is done, sort of like a loan? Also another thing that caught my interest was that only more than half of the people that go into probation get out successfully. I believe they said this is because some get into trouble while in probation and get it revoked and others cant pay the fee. They also said there was a reduction in New York City of the number of arrests and a reduction of probation and because of this they are allowing people who need to be on probation to not be in anytype of probation. I feel like if the city or a large number of people think you should be on probation or a judge asks for you to go it needs to be 100% ruled for the person to be in some type of probation. I do think they should lower the costs of probation. People from around where I live even think it is an outrageous cost because in some cases everytime you go to see your probation officer or you have a meeting you have to pay a flat fee which I believe to be ridiculous. I think that you should have to pay but if you do not have the money at that current time or have troubles with money they should find a workaround for the individual instead of making the person sell their own goods to make the needs of the payment. I think it is stupid how the probation companies drop or revoke people's probation just because they can not pay for it, Hospitals even have medical cards for people who can not afford the costs of going to a medical facility. Going later to the meeting they talk about how one of the ladies thinks there should be much less people in probation as of this current state. I would have to absolutely agree that just having a single night in jail can change a person and their prospective and then that person would not have to need any type of probation from that point forward. She also says how this is because some of the people who get sent to jail are mostly low risk which would mean most of them should not need any type of need for probation. I think it is dumb how even if the person committed the smallest of crimes if the judge says that person needs probation then that person will have to get probation for the certain amount of time the judge will set their mind to. The next person who asked a question really started a god one by asking about how the probation will handle an individual going through any type of mental health relapse or addiction relapse. I think personally if a person starts or has already had a mental health problem in any reported case then the person should not be going to a probation of any type but rather they should be put straight through a test to see how intense their mental health problem is and how the test should be handled would depend on whether the person is capable of not going back into a relapse and if they can not. If they are capable of relapse then they should be sent straight to a rehab instead of serving a probation. Another man in the stands had a question about the caseload of the probationary officers and I personally would like to say that I think the officers have too many cases to work properly and for the officers to work correctly they need to cut down on how many people they have to handle at a time. -MyHandle711
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