Recidivism and Parole in NJ

Our friend Ben Barlyn from the NJ sentencing commission sent this to his commissioners and kindly passed it along to us as well:


The State Parole Board today issued a Media Advisory regarding the results of a two-year recidivism study. The advisory and executive summary are attached as a PDF documents. The two-year study conducted by the State Parole Board's Policy and Planning Unit tracked the progress of 325 ex-inmates released in 2004.


Notably, the study revealed that 73 percent ofinmates who served their entire sentences without any parole supervision, i.e.,"maxed out," were rearrested within two years, compared to 51 percent for those inmates whose transition from prison was subject to supervision by the Parole Board- a difference of 22 percent.The study further disclosed that inmates who "maxed out" were re-convicted upon rearrest and reinarcerated at higher rates as well. The full report will shortly be available on the Commission's Web site at www.sentencing.nj.gov in the document library.

But by all means, let's do away with parole and make sure they all serve their "true" sentences because that's what proves we're tough on crime and victimization.