Vîlcică E Rely
1 Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 2018 Apr;62(5):1357-1383. doi: 10.1177/0306624X16668512. Epub 2016 Sep 15.
The decision to grant conditional release from prison (aka the parole decision) has been largely neglected in the contemporary criminological literature, despite its critical implications. The current study, conducted in Pennsylvania, United States, tests for punitive themes in parole decision making by examining the impact of several measures reflective of punishment satisfaction on the decision to grant release to eligible parole candidates. The results indicate that the amount of time served in relation to the original punishment does not predict parole decisions but the nature of the original offense does. Moreover, inmates eligible for parole have to experience at least one parole denial to increase their chances of release, suggesting that parole decision makers use the parole process as a punitive means. The implications of the findings are discussed.
尽管有重大影响，但在当代犯罪学文献中，给予罪犯有条件释放的决定（即假释决定）在很大程度上被忽视了。在美国宾夕法尼亚州进行的这项研究，通过考察反映惩罚满意度的多项指标对符合条件的假释候选人给予释放决定的影响，来检验假释决策中的惩罚性主题。结果表明，与原判刑罚相关的服刑时间并不能预测假释决定，而原判罪行的性质则能预测。此外，符合假释条件的囚犯必须至少经历一次假释否决，才能增加获释机会，这表明假释决策者将假释程序用作一种惩罚手段。本文讨论了这些研究结果的意义。
