Does intensive parole supervision decrease crime? What are its effects?
Intensive supervision programs decrease crime if they are designed and implemented correctly. Just watching someone more closely doesn’t do anything to reduce recidivism—parole officers simply identify more of the criminal behavior that occurs. But if you combine surveillance and treatment activities, intensive supervision can reduce recidivism. In this instance, as in most areas of criminal programming, the devil is in the details. 5) Why are so many prisoners racial and ethnic minorities? This is an incredibly complicated question and I can’t do justice here. But there are two explanations. The first is that they commit more of the crime that lands someone in prison – violent crimes, drug crimes, and weapons offenses. There is evidence that this is true. The other explanation is that the system treats racial and ethnic minorities more harshly than their white counterparts, when both are arrested for the same crime. There is evidence that this is also true. I think both are part of th
