THE AUTHOR NOTES THAT PAROLE EFFICIENCY COULD BE IMPROVED BY RELEASING FROM PAROLE THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO DEMONSTRATE A HIGH PROBABILITY OF POST-PAROLE SUCCESS. THE AUTHOR FURTHER CONTENDS THAT THE ABILITY TO MANAGE ONE YEAR OF PAROLE SUPERVISION WITHOUT A MAJOR VIOLATION IS ONE OF THE BEST PREDICTORS OF SUBSEQUENT AVOIDANCE OF SERIOUS CRIMINAL INVOLVEMENT. A CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT WHICH STUDIED THE NEW OFFENSES OF PAROLEES WHOSE FIRST YEAR OF PAROLE WAS ARREST-FREE IS DESCRIBED. THE RESULTS OF THIS EXPERIMENT SUGGESTED THAT EXTENDING PAROLE BEYOND THE FIRST YEAR, IF THE INDIVIDUAL MANAGED TO AVOID ARREST DURING THAT PERIOD, PROVIDED LITTLE IN THE WAY OF ADDED SAFEGUARDS AGAINST SUBSEQUENT SERIOUS OFFENSES AGAINST SOCIETY. USING DATA FROM THE UNIFORM PAROLE PROJECT OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON CRIME AND DELINQUENCY RESEARCH CENTER, THE AUTHOR REPLICATES THE FINDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA STUDY FOR A NATIONAL SAMPLE. APPLYING A COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS TO THESE RESULTS, THE AUTHOR CONCLUDES THAT A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF RESOURCES COULD BE REALLOCATED TO OTHER IMPORTANT AREAS IF SUCH AN EARLY DISCHARGE POLICY WERE ADOPTED.