The Parole System: Does Parole Work?

Parole is a system whereby prisoners are granted conditional release after serving a certain length of sentence. This system was introduced in the American criminal justice system to decongest prisons and with the hope that it would reduce costs of having a large population of prisoners. With a prisoner population of more than 2.1 million as at 2005, American prisons (state and federal) registered an increase of about 600,000 prisoners as from 1995. The capacity of the prisons was less than the prisoners and the state of overcrowding in prisons made many prisoners be release before they completed their full term