Parole Officers

Like probation officers, parole officers must balance two roles: cop and social worker. These roles, often in conflict with each other, are at the heart of what constitutes the job of a parole officer. More so than probation officers, parole agents have a greater law enforcement orientation. Everyone they supervise has already been to prison, and many have been convicted of violent offenses. In 1999, one fourth of everyone on parole supervision had been sentenced to prison for a violent crime, another 33% were drug offenders, and 31% were property offenders (Bureau of Justice Statistics, n.d.). By the end of 2002, there were more than 750,000 people under parole supervision in the United States. During that same year, about 470,000 people were released from prison and placed on parole (Glaze, 2003).

In many states, parole supervision is part of the state's Department of Corrections, and in others, it is a separate state agency. Many parole officers carry guns, and because those under parole supervision are still technically considered state prisoners, parole officers have broad powers to make unannounced searches of parolees themselves as well as of their living areas.

Parole officers are expected to assist parolees’ adjustment to the community once they have been released from prison, monitor their progress, and make sure they adhere to the conditions of parole. The conditions of parole are fairly standard in every state and include remaining drug free, having a job or being actively engaged in looking for employment, not consorting with other felons, regularly reporting to parole officers, and attending all required treatment programs.

Parole officers have a tremendous amount of discretion in how they do their jobs. Some officers take a primarily punitive approach to their jobs and, after making clear to parolees what they are expected to do, simply wait for them to violate their conditions and arrest them for a technical parole violation. Because parole officers have the ability to take a parolee back to jail or prison immediately for a violation hearing if they believe a violation has occurred, they wield a significant amount of power. In fact, their ability to search and question a parolee at will, along with their ability to incarcerate a parolee immediately based on an alleged technical violation, gives them powers that not even police have.

Other parole officers can take a more social or welfare worker approach to their jobs and deemphasize the enforcement side of the job in order to concentrate on assisting the parolee with his or her transition back into the community. This can include everything from finding appropriate treatment and employment programs to working with the parolee [Page 314]and his or her family to deal with issues such as drug use, family reunification, and parenting skills.

Between these two extremes of parole officer emphasis on control versus assistance are gradations that combine both perspectives.

Just examining some of the characteristics of those who are leaving prisons can illustrate the difficulty of a parole officer's job. In 1999, 84% of those leaving prison had used drugs or alcohol at the time of the offense, more than 14% were diagnosed with a serious mental illness, and more than 12% were homeless at the time of the arrest (Hughes, Wilson, & Beck, 2001). Combine these characteristics with a criminal history that includes at least one felony conviction, low educational levels, and poor employment histories, and it becomes clear that the barriers to successful reentry for these parolees are extraordinarily difficult. Just how difficult is borne out by statistics that show that almost 70% of parolees were rearrested within 3 years of their release from prison (Bureau of Justice Statistics, n.d.).

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