by Meagan Dorsch
As states struggle to balance their budgets, many states are looking at allowing offenders who break the rules of their probation/parole to serve time in the community and preserve expensive prison beds for more dangerous criminals.
Nationwide, 35 percent of all state prison admissions in 2006 were for offenders who violated their parole, not for new convictions, according to the most recent figures from the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. California led the nation: nearly two-thirds of its prison admissions were attributed to parole violations.
In this edition of The Buzz, Alison Lawrence, a criminal justice expert with The National Conference of State Legislatures, explains the three broad approaches states have developed to handle violations and what strategies state lawmakers are using to hold offenders accountable for breaking the rules of probation or parole.
NCSL has identified corrections and sentencing as one of the Top 9 Issues legislatures across the country will face during the 2009 legislative session.
Listen to our podcast(8:03) and read Alison Lawrence's Probation and Parole Violations: State Responses report.
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