Parole Letter Essay

I enrolled at Missouri State University in the spring semester of 2014. I had declared my major in Criminology and Criminal Justice due to my passion for helping others. I have always been a firm believer that everyone deserves help, no matter what situation they may be in. I knew that this field was what I loved learning about, however in the beginning I was not quite sure on what field I wanted to focus on. Nevertheless, after watching a documentary in a class I was enrolled in about the life of a parole officer, I knew this is what my purpose in life should be. After long consideration I determined that Probation and Parole is what I am the most passionate about.

In August of 2012, at Grand Rapids Community College, I was placed on Academic Probation due to my cumulative GPA dropping below the 2.0 threshold. Prior to this action, I was not driven to take the action to perform well in my classes. I was lost in the options for my future and unaware of where I would end up. It was this lack of focus and drive that reflected in my performance. This was a strong turning point in my life, and after being placed on academic probation I came to appreciate the repercussions I was facing by not prioritizing my education. It was in this year that I decided on where I wanted my college career to take me. Through the influential factors I discussed in my personal statement, I had both my mind and my future set on

Before any method of release is accepted for the defendant, a pretrial release hearing takes place. If the arrestee doesn't pose a significant risk of flight, and has only been arrested for a relatively minor offense. If the arrestee doesn't pose the threat, then they are eligible for pretrial release. In the pretrial release hearing a bail decision is made. There are three different methods that can be used to release a defendant prior to a hearing. Those methods are, bail, own recognizance, and preventive detention. When it comes to the release form of bail, it can be described as, releasing an accused person, with the promise that they will appear to trial, if not they will pay the court with a specific sum of money or property. The federal law provides that, " upon all arrests in criminal cases, bail shall be admitted, except where the punishment may be death" ( Siegel &

The prison is a system that is a touchy subject. Half of people think it is fine and the other half see a need for major change. The system has been mostly the same for years now and people think that it is about time to change something due to reincarceration rates and how prisoners are treated. Gang creation among races is a large problem for inmates when they are released and head back into society. I chose this topic because I have noticed that criminals who go into the prison system are never really a better person but likely will end up back in the pen.

The parole board is a court that decides whether to let prisoners, or other dangerous offenders back into the community. The board is the heart of the Criminal Justice System. The parole board concerns are in the most high-profile cases, where the sentence is indefinable to the judge or oral hearings. Each case is like a detective investigation, but if it is completed the wrong way it can be fatal. Furthermore, parole boards have to determine if a crime will take place if they release someone from prison. The truth is that the risk is not something boards can calculate accurately, which means they are assessing life and death risks that are ultimately imponderable. Moreover, the other truth is that sometimes parole boards get it wrong, there will always be a proportion of offenders that boards let out who will reoffend.

In the world today, racial discrimination is still an issue, but because of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., racial discrimination is not as bad as it used to be. He helped African American people a chance at Freedom and Justice. While fighting this problem, he wrote a very popular Speech and a Letter. The Speech was called “I have a Dream” (which was presented in front of the Lincoln memorial) and The letter was called “The letter from Birmingham Jail”. Both text are very complex and persuasive, Although “I have a Dream” was more captivating because it appealed to the crowds emotional and it used figurative language.

Nowadays, in the United States, parole is a controversial topic. Some believe those prisoners should complete their sentences and not allowed early release. However, research findings show that parole does work. The U.S. Department of Justice report states that 57 percent of parolees in 2006 completed their sentences successfully, while 18 percent were returned to prison and 4 percent absconded, with the remaining 21 percent still on parole. Nonetheless, parole 's existence is at hazard. The "war on drugs" and "Tough on crime" policies have affected the federal government to eliminate federal parole, and on the state level, many states, such as New York, no longer grant parole for persons charged with violent crimes. Recently, in 2012 US Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. Alabama,1 states and the federal government are required to consider the unique circumstances of each juvenile defendant in determining an individualized sentence. In 2016, Montgomery v. Louisiana ensures that the decision applies retroactively to those people sentenced prior to Miller. For juveniles, the use of life sentences without the possibility of parole, as a mandatory minimum, is unconstitutional. Influenced by the Miller decision, the state of California now offers prisoners a meaningful chance at parole after 15 to 25 years if their crime occurred when they were a juvenile.

In our text and in the article by Freiburger and Hilinski (2010) they both mention pretrial release. Pretrial release is defined as:

Kleiman and Hawken suggest that a reform of the parole system can lead to a more effective system overall. They draw attention to the fact that despite crime rates being on a continuous decline, incarceration rates continue to rise at an alarming rate. The identify that about 1% of adults in the United States is behind bars, and they argue that an effective parole system could counter this, allowing many of this immense prison population to be contributing members to society. They go on to discuss how prisoners are being rushed out of prison, because they need to make room for more prisoners to come in. As these prisoners are released, the integration process proves to be a complicated one, almost guaranteeing failure of these newly released prisoners. They point out

I offer this letter in response to the advertised Probation Officer position on www.uscourts.gov. I am confident that you will find me a perfect match for this position, as you will see that I fit the profile that you have offered in your post for the position, furthermore I have all the necessary skill to make this position at US Probation Office a success. With a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and seven years’ experience solely concentrated in corrections. In addition to, experience both inside the prison setting as a correctional officer and correctional case manager, and current experience as a North Carolina Probation/Parole Officer II. I believe to be suitable for the available position. With this conviction, I am applying my

College programs for inmates were largely defunded in the 1990’s as part of the “tough on crime” era. Since then prison populations have exploded along with the costs associated with housing convicted criminals. Inmates are often released with not marketable skills so they resort back to a life of crime and end up returning to prison within a short time of being released. Taxpayers should pay for inmate college education to help keep them from returning to prison and saving taxpayers millions of dollars in the long run. Compared to all other nations the United States has the highest incarceration rate with one in every 99 adults in state or federal prison totaling 2.3 million people.

The concept of incapacitation indicates that individuals behind bars cannot commit a crime outside the perimeter of incarceration. The prevention strategy came due to efficacy issues with the rehabilitation model that resulted in increased crime rate and fear among the neighborhoods. These reasons justify the reason why people face imprisonment (Cullen & Gilbert, 1982). The majority accepts that lengthy incarceration acts as retribution for serious offenders and possesses the serious threat to the public if released. Is incapacitation a cost-saving crime prevention strategy? The deterrence and incapacitation should create space for the repeat and most dangerous offenders. The strategies would then lead to imprisonment of

The procedure known as “parole” in the criminal justice system has been in practice in the United States since the late 1800’s when it was begun in a reformatory in Elmira, New York. It’s process provides for early conditional release from prison for convicted felons, after part of their prison sentence has been served, and they are found to be eligible for parole based on factors such as: conduct while incarcerated, rehabilitative efforts/progress, type of offense, and remorse for their crime. Its use has been expanded to many states, and today has become the primary way by which offenders are released from prisons and correctional institutions. Unfortunately, parole is not always rewarded to worthy

I really enjoyed this reading and found it very fascinating. The letter at the beginning really caught my attention. however that doesn't change my view of prison inmates. First off I would like to say that no matter what that person did they do not deserve to be harmed or physical or mentally. But as far as I'm concerned for the murders and the rapist they are absolute scum and in my opinion don't deserve the right to be treated like a human being. I'm not saying they deserve to be abused but to ask to be treated with respect or like a human being is laughable. They chose to do those terrible things now I think they should be punished for doing so. I think prison is a form of punishment for those who deserve it. But only for those who have

In 1974, Peter B.Hoffman and James L. Beck came together to publish the article Parole decision-making: A salient factor score. Within they stated in their abstract that “although considerable effort during the past thirty years has been devoted to the attempted construction of actuarial aids for parole selection, such devices have not generally been adopted by paroling agencies for operational use. One recent exception is the United States Board of Parole which has commenced usage of an actuarial device, termed a “salient factor score,” as a risk assessment aid in conjunction with explicit parole decision-making guidelines.” This was the first in-depth look as a kind of litmus test to ascertain whether these criminals were actually rehabilitated