What Predicts Parole Violations?
Nearly half (49 percent) of the parolees in our sample had at least one formal parole violation report during our study period, and 24 percent had multiple parole violation reports. Each report could contain multiple violations of any type (e.g., criminal, technical). Together, these parolees were responsible for 296,958 violation reports. CDCR tracks 247 different types of prohibited parolee behavior, ranging from violations of the parole process, usually referred to as technical violations, to serious and violent criminal offenses like robbery, assault with deadly weapons, and homicide. Over a third (35 percent) of all the recorded parole violations were for noncriminal, or “technical,” violations. Two-thirds of technical violations were for absconding supervision, meaning that the parolee missed an appointment and/or his or her whereabouts were unknown. Other technical violations include weapons access, psychological endangerment, and various violations of the parole process such as
