The number of offenders supervised in the community on probation or parole increased by 3.4 percent during 1996. The total number of adults under correctional supervision, incarcerated or in the community, reached a new high of 5.5 million at the end of 1996. At the end of the year, 2.8 percent of the adult population, about 2 in every 35 adults, were incarcerated or on probation or parole. Also at the end of the year, 3,180,363 adult offenders were on probation. More than half had been convicted of a felony, 26 percent had been convicted of a misdemeanor, and 17 percent had been convicted for driving while intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol. An additional 704,709 adults were on parole at the end of 1996. Texas had the largest number of adults on probation and parole with more than 538,000 under supervision, followed by California with 389,000. At the end of 1996, 3.9 percent of all adults in Texas were on probation or parole. West Virginia had the lowest probation and parole supervision rate per 100,000 adults (466), followed by North Dakota (553), Kentucky (560), and Mississippi (587). Five States reported increases of at least 10 percent in their probation populations during 1996, led by Virginia (up 22.1 percent) and Alabama (up 16 percent). Women represented a growing percentage of probation and parole populations nationwide; 515,600 women were on probation and 79,300 women were on parole in 1996. At the end of 1996, over one-third of probationers and nearly half of parolees were black. During 1996, more than 1.5 million probationers and almost 400,000 parolees were released from supervision. 6 tables
Nation's Probation and Parole Population Reached Almost 3.9 Million Last Year
NCJ Number
171326
Date Published
August 1997
Publication Series
Annotation
Almost 3.9 million adult men and women were on probation or parole in the United States at the end of 1996, an increase of about 128,000 during the year.
Abstract
Date Published: August 1, 1997