A Look at Parole
| Published date | 01 January 1971 |
| Author | John Griffin |
| Date | 01 January 1971 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7104400103 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
INSPECTOR
JOHN
GRIFFIN,
LL.B., M.A.
Hertfordshire Constabulary
Mr. Griffin was a post-graduate student in Criminology at the
University
of
Keele when he wrote this article. The parole scheme has
now been operating
for
over two years; he describes its working
and discusses various views
of
its worth.
ALOOK
AT
PAROLE
Police officers, as such, are unlikely to get involved in the day to
day workings of the parole scheme (unless an officer runs up against
a"parolee" who commits an offence whilst on licence), and for this
reason few of them will know much about it. Nevertheless policemen
would not be human if they did not express some concern from time
to time about a scheme which, coupled with remission, effectively
chops off two thirds of a prisoner's sentence.
The Scheme
Parole came late to England though it has been a feature
of
the
United State's penal system for many years. A system of release on
licence had existed for Borstal dischargees and certain classes of
persistent offender in this country for some years but it was not until
1967 that a general scheme of parole was introduced.
The Criminal Justice Act, 1967, brought in a scheme whereby
any person could be released on licence after having served one
third of his sentence or twelve months, whichever was the longer.
He would then be eligible for parole for the second third of his
sentence or until he qualified sooner for full remission.
At the time the scheme was introduced there were a great many
serving sentences who were already eligible for parole, and the newly
constituted Local Review Committees and the Parole Board had
difficulty in coping with the initial flood of applications.
Briefly, the scheme operates as follows. Any person eligible, unless
he opts out of the scheme, is considered by his Local Review Com-
mittee, which usually comprises the Governor, aProbation Officer, a
member of the visiting committee or Board of Visitors and an in-
dependent member. A full dossier, which is compiled from the
beginning of an offender's sentence and which follows him round,
is laid before the committee, together with reports from the prison
staff and from the person who interviewed the applicant in connec-
tion with the application in the first instance. The committee makes
its own recommendation and then forwards the application to the
Home Office Parole Unit. The Unit sends the "recommended"
cases to the Parole Board, together with a selection of those cases in
January 1971
B
11
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