|
|
| parole policy may keep prisoners from coming back |
| By Michael S. Rosenwald, The Washington Post |
| Published: 04/14/2011 |
|
Sixteen years after banning parole, Virginia has defied the nation's high recidivism level, returning a lower rate of prisoners to incarceration than many other states, according to the first state-by-state comparison of recidivism. Although the state's recidivism levels have edged up slightly since 2000, Virginia's 28.3 percent recidivism rate for prisoners in the three years after their release in 2004 is well below the nation's 43.3 rate percent during the same period, according to the Pew Center on the States study. The Pew study comes as states battle skyrocketing prison costs amid steep budget shortfalls. Corrections spending by states tops $50 billion a year and is the second-fastest-growing budget expense, behind Medicaid, according to Pew. Virginia has cut prison spending and closed 10 corrections centers since 2009. How Virginia has achieved lower-than-average recidivism rates is difficult to pin down, experts said. One likely factor, though, is lack of parole. The state did away with parole in 1995 after get-tough-on-crime initiatives by then-Gov. George Allen, R. Prisoners are required to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences. By keeping prisoners behind bars longer, the effect is to "age them out of their crime-prone years," said Brian Ostrom, a researcher for the National Center for State Courts who has extensively studied Virginia's prison system. Virginia's released prisoners have been getting older. According to state statistics, more than half those released in the early 1990s were younger than 30, a group reincarcerated at the highest levels. By fiscal 2006, a third of those released were younger than 30, and the percentage of prisoners 40 to 49 who had been released tripled. Another demographic shift: Female prisoners, who are less likely to return to prison than males, have made up a greater portion of those released in recent years. Read More. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think