Description
Assume you worked in the parole board and you were required to provide your opinions for the following two cases. For each case,
please discuss
1) Whether the offender should be released and release plans.
2) What are factors and your reasons to release or not release this offender?Case StudiesVarious systems are used to make release decisions about incarcerated offenders. In states in which sentences are indeterminate, a paroling authority often must make a decision to release an offender and decide when that release should occur. Sentencing laws might determine when an offender is eligible for release, but he or she is not granted a release until a parole authority approves. In the following cases, a paroling authority must determine whether to release an offender to a community. Factors considered often involve probability of recidivism, victim impact, community impact, conduct of offender in an institution, and release plan offered. Consider these cases and determine whether an offenders release has merit.Case AJoseph, age 28, is serving up to 20 years for two counts of armed robbery. He has already served the mandatory minimum of five years and is being considered for release for the first time. He served a pervious sentence for burglary and successfully completed a release period before he committed the current crimes. The victims in both robberies were elderly gas station attendants, and very small amounts of money were obtained. The victims remain fearful of the offender, and both indicate that their lives were significantly affected by the experience. Neither victim ever returned to work. While incarcerated, Joseph has completed substance abuse treatment, meeting treatment summary class for this attendance in facility Cocaine Anonymous meetings. He attends such meetings about half of the time they are offered. He has also completed an anger management program, has been assigned to several inmate jobs, and has had no rule violations. He would like to have transitioned to a work release facility, but due to a waiting list he was not able to. His community plan is to return to the same community where he committed his crimes, live with his elderly aunt, seek work as a construction laborer, and attend community substance abuse aftercare. He would be under the supervision of a parole officer upon his release, if granted.Case BFred is a 39-year-old individual serving 14 years for possession with intent to sell a controlled substance. This is his second prison term, having served a six-year sentence for sale of heroin in the 1990s. He was paroled on the first offense after four years and successfully completed parole supervision. However, he was arrested on the current charge within two months of being released from parole supervision. Law enforcement officials reported that he had been under surveillance for several months before the arrest and was suspected of dealing in drugs during most of the period under parole supervision. While under supervision, he reported regularly to his parole officer and worked steadily at a job in a warehouse owned by his brother-in-law. There were no known law violations during the supervision. Freds institutional adjustment has been excellent. He attended drug counseling and is a member of the prison NA group. He attained his GED certificate and reports that he wants to attend community college when released. He will work for his brother-in-law again and live with his sister and her husband until he can afford to rent an apartment. The sheriff in the county in which he would live has protested his parole release, stating that Fred is a manipulative and devious person who maintains a façade of cooperation and honest living while continuing to sell drugs. He has served 5 years of his current 14-year sentence.