Statement on the Future of Community Corrections
Monday, August 28, 2017

Over the past 25 years, community corrections (probation and parole) caseloads
have grown exponentially, exceeding 5 million people at their peak, double the number
of people in prison and jail in America. Designed originally as an alternative to
incarceration, community corrections has become a significant contributor to mass
incarceration with nearly as many people entering prison for violations of community
corrections conditions as for new offenses.
Due to this high volume, public resources for community corrections have been
stretched, fostering large caseloads and inadequate programming and, in some cases,
forcing community corrections agencies to rely on fees from impoverished clients for
their very existence.
Fortunately, increasingly sophisticated research has shown that we can
responsibly reduce probation and parole populations. Research shows that people on
community corrections can be incentivized by earning time off of probation for
exemplary behavior such as securing a job, stable housing, or earning a degree; that
supervising people who present a low risk of rearrest increases recidivism; and that the
impact of supervision wanes after a few years.
As such, as America’s leading probation and parole officials and other concerned
individuals and organizations, we believe it is possible to both significantly reduce the
footprint of probation and parole and improve outcomes and public safety. Numerous
jurisdictions have reduced the number of people on probation and parole and have
instead focused supervision on those most in need of it and only for the time period they
require supervision without negatively impacting public safety.
Towards this end, we recommend that the number of people on probation and
parole supervision in America be significantly reduced by:
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Reserving the use of community corrections for only those who truly require
supervision.
Reducing lengths of stay under community supervision to only as long as
necessary to accomplish the goals of sentencing.
Exercising parsimony in the use of supervision conditions to no more conditions
than required to achieve the objectives of supervision.
Incentivizing progress on probation and parole by granting early discharge for
those who exhibit significant progress.
Eliminating or significantly curtailing charging supervision fees and instead,
Preserving most or all of the savings from reducing probation and parole
populations and focusing those resources on improving community based
services and supports for people under supervision.

Signatories

As of 3pm Thursday, August 31, 2017

Community Corrections Executives
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Jerry Adger, Director, South Carolina Probation Parole and Pardon Services
Ana Bermúdez, Probation Commissioner, New York City Probation
David Birch, Chief, Probation and Parole Division, Idaho Department of Correction
Barbara Broderick, Chief Probation Officer, Maricopa County, AZ
Susan Burke, Director, Utah Division of Juvenile Justice Services
Joseph Clocker, Director, Maryland Division of Parole and Probation
Chester Cooper, Director, Hennepin County Department of Community Corrections &
Rehabilitation
Hope Cooper, Deputy Secretary, Community and Field Services, Kansas Department of
Corrections
Ron Corbett, Former Commissioner, Massachusetts Probation Service
Howard F. Delaney, Director of Probation, Spokane Municipal Court
Ed Dolan, Commissioner, Massachusetts Probation Service
Karen Fletcher, Chief Adult Probation Officer, City and County of San Francisco
Adolfo Gonzales, Chief Probation Officer , San Diego County Probation
Christy Gutherz, Deputy Commissioner, Community Corrections, Mississippi
Department of Corrections
Marcus Hodges, Associate Director, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency
for the District of Columbia
James Hudspeth, Director, Adult Probation and Parole, State of Utah Department of
Corrections
Michael Jacobson, Former Probation Commissioner, New York City Probation
Julie Kempker, Chief State Supervisor with Probation and Parole, Missouri
Department of Corrections
John Klavins, Community Corrections Director, Ramsey County Community
Corrections (MN)
David Koch, Chief Probation Officer, Sonoma County Probation Department
Terri McDonald, Chief Probation Officer, Los Angeles County, CA
David Muhammad, Former Chief Probation Officer, Alameda County, CA
Michael Nail, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Community Supervision
Paul O'Connell, Operations Director, Community Corrections, Arizona Department of
Corrections
James Payne, Former Probation Commissioner, New York City Probation
Rocco A. Pozzi, Commissioner, Westchester County (NY) Probation Department
David F. Sanders, Chief Probation Officer, Pima County (AZ) Adult Probation
Department
Frank Scherer, Director, Allegheny County Adult Probation and Parole
Vincent Schiraldi, Former Probation Commissioner, New York City Probation
Wendy Still, Chief Probation Officer, Alameda County, CA

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Jeremiah Stromberg, Assistant Director, Community Corrections, Oregon
Department of Corrections
Javed Syed, Director, Dallas County Community Supervision and Corrections (Adult
Probation) Department
Scott Taylor, Director, Multnomah County (OR) Department of Community Justice
Leslie (Barney) Tomanek, Director, North Dakota Parole and Probation
Nancy Ware, Director, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District
of Columbia

Organizations
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#Cut50
Alliance for Safety and Justice
American Civil Liberties Union
American Conservative Union Federation
American Probation and Parole Association
Association of Paroling Authorities International
Association of State Correctional Administrators
Brennan Center
Common Justice
Center for Court Innovation
Center for Justice at Columbia University
FREEAMERICA
Fortune Society
International Community Corrections Association
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
JustLeadershipUSA
Justice Policy Institute
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies
National Association of Probation Executives
New York City Criminal Justice Agency
Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, University of
Minnesota Law School
The Sentencing Project
Vera Institute of Justice

Individuals
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John Chisholm, District Attorney, Milwaukee
George Gascon, District Attorney, San Francisco County
Mark Holden, General Counsel, Koch Industries
Van Jones, CNN Host, President of The Dream Corps, & co-founder of #cut50
Piper Kerman, Author

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George M. Keiser, CEO, Keiser and Associates
John Legend, Singer-Songwriter/Actor/Producer
Karol Mason President, John Jay University, former Assistant Attorney General, Office
of Justice Programs
Ronal Serpas, Chairman, Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and
Incarceration
Shelley Szambelan, Presiding Judge, Spokane Municipal Court
Steven Tompkins, Sheriff, Suffolk County, MA
Bruce Western, Chair, Executive Session on Community Corrections, Harvard
Kennedy School