NCJ Number
78170
Date Published
1981
Length
79 pages
Annotation
This volume presents seven papers pertaining to parole decisionmaking; the papers originally appeared in various criminal justice publications.
Abstract
The papers' topics include policy control, information, ethics, and discretion; the reporting of recidivism rates; a nontechnical discussion of an actuarial device called the salient factor score; and the revalidation of the salient factor score. Other topics addressed include the persistence of postprison success, community treatment centers, and a comparison of methods designed to screen for risk. One author states that the exercise of discretion in judicial decisions is both a strength and a weakness of the criminal justice system and that the elimination of discretion does not seem to be either possible or desirable. Another author points out that although the topic of recidivism invariably elicits much interest, considerable conflict and uncertainty exist regarding even crude estimates of the recidivism rate for persons released from prison. Two papers discuss the salient factor score, a method for assessing an offender's likelihood of having a favorable outcome upon release. Another paper notes that followup studies of recent Federal prison releasees suggest that Federal community correctional services have enabled the system to reduce recidivism more effectively than it did 20 years ago. The papers provide footnotes, tables, references, and a few appendixes.