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Conditional Release - Development and Implementation (1899-1981)

NCJ Number
87038
Journal
Criminologie Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Dated: (1981) Pages: complete issue
Date Published
1981
Length
105 pages
Annotation
Articles in this special issue on parole in Canada refer primarily to the Provincial system in Ottawa as an example of an established and functioning service. Both critical and defensive viewpoints are represented.
Abstract
Three papers express the perspective of parole officers who are concerned with the stresses agents experience in attempting to enforce parole conditions while providing clients assistance with their reintegration needs. One paper suggests making parole assistance a voluntary service available to ex-offenders upon request. Another article assesses the potential effects of newly implemented reforms that integrate the parole service into the correctional system. Loss of parole agent autonomy is seen as a serious flaw in the comprehensive new case management approach, and eventual phaseout of the parole service is feared. Next, the discretional parole decisionmaking currently practiced by the Ottawa parole board is explained and defended as a fair and individualized procedure. A historical overview traces the development of the Canadian parole service over the past century. Finally, the parole agents' conflict between control and assistance is analyzed from an organizational perspective, which indicates that a resolution of the clinical dilemma must be sought at higher levels of the organizational power structure. Bibliographies are provided with some articles. For individual papers, see NCJ 87039-44.