Eligible for Parole: Parole Decision-Making and Re-Entry

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

This session sheds light on two aspects of parole: Parole decision-making and desistance among parolees. In studying these aspects, both studies use data made available by the Massachusetts Parole Board, focusing on violent offenders who have been sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.
The first study is set against the background of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that sentencing of adolescent offenders to life without parole is unconstitutional. If procedures are to be developed to provide the meaningful review called for in the decision, we need to establish how so far, Parole Boards considered youthful offenders who were eligible for parole. This research examines how the age of the offender is weighted in serious acts of violence.
The second study focuses on re-entry of violent offenders who were eligible for parole: Despite increases in the number of parolees with life sentences, we know very little about the desistance process among this population. In this study, we assess the influence of neighborhood characteristics on the desistance process of active life sentence offenders on parole.
The findings of both studies are discussed in a broader context of the role of Parole in re-entry.

Sub Unit

• Area VIII: Roundtables

Chair

• Marieke Liem, Harvard University / Leiden University

Discussant

• Shawna Andersen, Massachusetts Parole Board

Participants

• Simon Singer, Northeastern University

• Natasha A. Frost, Northeastern University