Problems with Probation and Parole
In an outstanding series, "Law and Disorder," Doug Pardue and Glenn Smith of The Post and Courier examine South Carolina's broken probation and parole system. They engage, and probably enrage, readers by describing horrific crimes committed by repeat offenders. But the causes of the system's failures also should enrage. Here's an excerpt from a series of bullet points:
--The state lacks enough probation and parole agents to oversee more than 48,000 criminals. This load leaves some agents with more than 170 criminals to keep up with, more than double the recommended national average.
--Agents often don't have key resources necessary to do their jobs. In Spartanburg County, 20 agents must share just six cars to cover an 819-square-mile area with some 3,200 offenders. In Richland County, front-line agents recently had to turn in their state cell phones because there was no money to pay for them.
--Judges, faced with swollen dockets and overcrowded prisons, often allow probation violators to remain free instead of putting them behind bars. Between 2003 and 2007, fewer than half of the 64,970 criminals arrested for violating the terms of their release had their probation revoked by a judge.
About 20 states have abolished parole in one way or another, with varying success.
http://www.charleston.net/news/special_reports/parole/