Reference no: EM133228722

Assignment:

Agree or disagree?

Are you surprised by the number of people under community supervision in the US? What trends in the "Probation and Parole in the United States" stat sheet were of particular interest or concern to you?

Considering the change in trends of public opinion on certain crimes ie: drugs, theft. I was not surprised when I saw the decreasing trend in community supervision because a lot of crimes have been decriminalized such as possession of small amounts of marijuana which was a misdemeanor and now a citation. Furthermore, non-violent crimes such as retail theft have been handled differently in the past few years. For example, in some municipalities such as Philadelphia retail theft is treated with diversion programs as opposed to a part I felony or misdemeanor (depending on the value of the item taken). There are certainly more factors that affect the overall number of incarceration and consequently community supervision. There are also preventative factors that may have contributed to the reduction of incarceration such as policing practices, better community programs, socioeconomic support, welfare programs, etc.

One data point that particularly interested me is the overall drop in community supervision mostly due to less probationers. Probation is given in lieu of incarceration so I wonder if it's a matter of probation being granted less (Harsher punishment) or if offenders are being "let off the hook" more.