Reform Group Opposes Parole Abolition

“Abolishing parole is ‘silver bullet’ solution that will create more problems than it solves”, said Kim Workman, Project Leader, for the “Rethinking Crime and Punishment” project. If the government abolished parole, the impact would be to:

• Remove a level of supervision and support for newly released prisoners;

• Increase re-offending and public victimisation

• Divert essential funding from prevention and rehabilitation programs, into a major prison building program.

“Prisoners serving more than two years in prison, often have serious difficulty adjusting back into the community. While Community Probation only provide minimal supervision, it may be the only support the prisoner has. A probation officer who realises that a prisoner is getting back into drinking or drug use, is having relationship issues, or has employment or accommodation needs, may be they able to refer to other agencies, or provide some support. ”

Parole part of Reintegration

“Parole should be seen as part of the reintegration process. When parole conditions are too rigid, it works against successful prisoner reintegration – what is needed is a more comprehensive community-based approach. In the meantime, requiring prisoners to comply with minimal conditions can provide a safety net for both the public and the prisoner.”

Around 7,500 prisoners were released last year without parole, because they were serving less than two years. In the same period 1,244 were released on parole orders. Of those serving parole last year, only 10.4% breached the order. “We need to distinguish between the small number of serious and dangerous offenders, and the thousands of others who benefit from a level of low supervision and oversight on release.”

Abolish Parole – Increase Reoffending

If parole is abolished, reoffending will increase. A recent study, involving more than 300,000 offenders, found that increased imprisonment instead of a community sentence did not reduce re-offending after release. In fact, it increased reoffending by 3%. Why do something that is going to increase the number of victims in the community?

Abolish Parole – Increase Cost to the Taxpayer

The Department of Corrections has estimated that there would be an increase over current forecasts of 1000 by September 2010, rising by 2400 by September 2014, based on the following assumptions:

• the abolition of parole took effect from 1 October 2007, leading to a 15 month delay before the first prisoners were affected;

• the abolition of Parole was not retrospective, and affected only prisoners serving more than two year determinate sentences;

• imposed sentence length patterns were unaffected, then:

That represents two large additional prisons being built in the next three years, and a further five prisons by 2014. In our view, most New Zealanders would prefer to see that money spent on crime prevention, prisoner rehabilitation, and reintegration.

ENDS

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