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Committee on Community Supervision and Desistance from Crime
Committee on Law and Justice
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Govern-
ing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the
councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineer-
ing, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for
the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropri-
ate balance.
This study was supported by a contract between the National Academy of Sciences
and the National Institute of Justice. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or rec-
ommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support
for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-309-11081-5
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-11081-5
Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press,
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Copyright 2008 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2008). Parole, Desistance from
Crime, and Community Integration. Committee on Community Supervision and
Desistance from Crime. Committee on Law and Justice, Division of Behavioral and
Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society
of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to
the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare.
Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Acad-
emy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific
and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy
of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter
of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding en-
gineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members,
sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the
federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineer-
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Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of
the National Research Council.
www.national-academies.org
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COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY SUPERVISION
AND DESISTANCE FROM CRIME
JOAN PETERSILIA (Cochair), School of Social Ecology, University of
California, Irvine
RICHARD ROSENFELD (Cochair), Department of Criminology and
Criminal Justice, University of Missouri, St. Louis
RICHARD J. BONNIE, University of Virginia School of Law
ROBERT D. CRUTCHFIELD, Department of Sociology, University of
Washington
MARK A.R. KLEIMAN, Department of Public Policy, University of
California, Los Angeles
JOHN H. LAUB, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice,
University of Maryland
CHRISTY A. VISHER, Justice Policy Center, The Urban Institute,
Washington, DC
CAROL PETRIE, Study Director
EUGENIA GROHMAN, Senior Project Officer
LINDA DePUGH, Administratie Assistant
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COMMITTEE ON LAW AND JUSTICE
2006-2007
JAMES Q. WILSON (Chair), Emeritus, University of California, Los
Angeles
PHILIP J. COOK (Vice Chair), Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy,
Duke University
DAVID H. BAYLEY, School of Criminal Justice, University of Albany,
SUNY
RICHARD J. BONNIE, Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy,
University of Virginia Law School
MARTHA CRENSHAW, Department of Political Science, Wesleyan
University
ROBERT D. CRUTCHFIELD, Department of Sociology, University of
Washington
JOHN J. DIIULIO, JR., Institute of Government, University of
Pennsylvania
STEVEN N. DURLAUF, Department of Economics, University of
Wisconsin-Madison
JOHN A. FEREJOHN, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
ARTHUR S. GOLDBERGER, Department of Economics, University of
Wisconsin-Madison
BRUCE HOFFMAN, Director, Washington Office, RAND Corporation
ROBERT L. JOHNSON, Chair of Pediatrics, UMDNJ-New Jersey
Medical School
JOHN H. LAUB, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice,
University of Maryland
TRACEY L. MEARES, School of Law, University of Chicago
TERRIE E. MOFFITT, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London
MARK H. MOORE, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
University
RUTH PETERSON, Department of Sociology, Ohio State University
RICHARD ROSENFELD, Department of Criminology and Criminal
Justice, University of Missouri-St. Louis
ROBERT J. SAMPSON, Department of Sociology, Harvard University
JEREMY TRAVIS, President, John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
New York
CHRISTY VISHER, Justice Policy Center, The Urban Institute,
Washington, DC
CAROL PETRIE, Director
BETTY CHEMERS, Senior Program Officer
LINDA DePUGH, Program Associate
i
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Contents
Preface ix
Executive Summary 1
1 Introduction and Background 7
2 Dimensions of Desistance 19
3 Parole: Current Practices 32
4 Services and Programs for Releasees 40
5 Criminal Justice Institutions and Community Resources 63
6 Conclusions, Recommendation, and Research Agenda 72
References 83
Appendixes
A Workshop Agenda 97
B Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff 100
ii
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Preface
Because the United States has the highest rate of imprisonment in the
industrialized world, it also has the highest number of offenders—more
than 600,000—returning to their communities, mostly cities, every year.
Unfortunately, more than one-half of all released offenders will return to
prison within 3 years of their release. The proportion of released offenders
who return to prison has changed very little over the past three decades. It
is in broad public interest to provide services and treatment in prison and as
part of community supervision that will reduce the rate of recidivism—the
return to prison for parole violations or the commission of new crimes.
Reductions in recidivism would simultaneously reduce state corrections
costs and improve community safety.
In this volume we attempt to pull together what is known from research
about various models of community supervision designed to reduce recidi-
vism and promote desistance from crime. We identify gaps in the research
literature, and we discuss how currently available resources might best be
used to improve community supervision outcomes.
This report is based in part on a workshop held by the Committee on
Community Supervision and Desistance from Crime in January 2006. Four
leading scholars presented papers to stimulate and guide the committee’s
discussion of traditional and new models of community supervision. The
committee owes much to their work: David Farabee of the University of
California Los Angeles; Faye S. Taxman of Virginia Commonwealth Uni-
versity; David B. Wexler, University of Arizona and University of Puerto
ix
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x PREFACE
Rico; and Pamela K. Lattimore, University of South Carolina and Research
Triangle Institute.
The committee’s work was also aided by the workshop discussants,
who represented a distinguished group from the research and practice
communities: Michael Jacobson, Vera Institute in New York City; Martin
Horn, commissioner, New York City Department of Corrections; Tom
LeBel, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Sharon Neumann, assistant
deputy director, Community Sentencing Division, Oklahoma Department of
Corrections; Jennifer L. Skeem, University of California, Irvine; Honorable
Cindy Lederman, administrative judge, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Juvenile
Division, Miami-Dade County, Florida; Peggy B. Burke, Center for Effective
Public Policy, Silver Spring, Maryland; and Jeremy Travis, president, John
Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York City. The committee is grateful
to all of these wonderful scholars and practitioners whose papers and com-
ments provided such a sound foundation for this report.
The committee also offers grateful thanks to Glenn R. Schmitt, acting
director of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) at the time the workshop
was held. He not only facilitated funding for the committee’s work, but also
gave unstintingly of his time and shared his ideas with the committee and
workshop participants. The committee also thanks Thomas Feucht, assis-
tant director for research and evaluation at NIJ for his invaluable support
for this project, and Patrick Clark, acting director of the evaluation division
at NIJ, who first broached the idea of focusing on desistance and the ways
in which community supervision could foster less or zero offending among
those released from prison.
The successful reintegration of former prisoners is one of the most
formidable challenges facing society today. We hope that this volume will
be of practical use to both the research and corrections communities in
helping released offenders to desist from crime and become fully integrated
and law-abiding citizens. This report has been reviewed in draft form by
individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in
accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s
Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to
provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in mak-
ing its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report
meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness
to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain
confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Shawn Bushway, Program on the Economics of Crime and Justice Policy,
School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany, State University of New
York; Michael E. Ezell, Department of Sociology, Vanderbilt University;
Julie Horney, Office of the Dean, School of Criminal Justice, University at
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xi
PREFACE
Albany, State University of New York; Lila Kazemian, Department of So-
ciology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice/City University of New York;
Michael D. Maltz, Criminal Justice and Information and Decision Sciences
(emeritus), University of Illinois at Chicago; Ray Paternoster, Department
of Criminology, University of Maryland, College Park; Alex R. Piquero,
John Jay College of Criminal Justice/City University of New York; Steven
Raphael, Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy, University
of California, Berkeley; and Amy L. Solomon, The Urban Institute, Wash-
ington, DC.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive
comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions
or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its
release. The review of this report was overseen by Alfred Blumstein, The H.
John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon
University. Appointed by the National Research Council, he was respon-
sible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was
carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review
comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of
this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
Joan Petersilia and Richard Rosenfeld
Cochairs, Committee on Community
Supervision and Desistance from Crime
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