BJA FY 15 Smart Supervision: Reducing Prison Populations, Saving Money, and Creating Safer Communities

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At yearend 2013, an estimated 4,751,400 adults were under supervision in the community either on probation or parole—the equivalent of about 1 out of every 51 adults in the United States. Many people on supervision do not successfully complete their community supervision.1 According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the incarceration rates increased in the past year for both probationers and parolees who left supervised status in 2013 due to a new offense or revocation. State-level data from BJA’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative indicate that in some states, probation and parole revocations account for up to 65 percent of prison and jail admissions annually. These failure rates are a key reason prison populations remain high. The FY 2015 Smart Supervision Program (SSP) seeks to improve probation and parole success rates and reduce crime committed by those under probation and parole supervision, which would in turn reduce admissions to prisons and jails and save taxpayer dollars. Funds can be used either to implement evidence-based supervision strategies or to innovate new strategies to improve outcomes for supervisees.

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