Parole Revocation in the Era of Mass Incarceration

The explosive growth of US prison populations over the last 30 years—now known as ‘mass incarceration’—has been driven by harsh sentences delivered to offenders by criminal courts, but the increasingly common practice of parole revocation has also contributed significantly to this phenomenon. As the criminal justice system has been reoriented away from rehabilitation and toward punitive objectives, the function of parole has changed accordingly. No longer focused on the successful reintegration of offenders, parole has been transformed into a managerial instrument that mainly serves to identify and reincarcerate dangerous criminals. This function entails a substantial amount of discretion in revocation decision making, raising concerns about the further entrenchment of disadvantage among already impoverished populations. However, given the professional and reputational pressures on state parole boards, revocation decision making logics appear rational. Reducing the flow of parole violators into prisons, therefore, is far more complicated than the technical re-engineering of parole practices. Such reform necessarily involves questioning our fundamental philosophies of punishment.