Back to Parole Dashboard Methodology Definitions
Methodology
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) began the Annual Probation Survey and Annual Parole Survey in 1980. The surveys collect data from U.S. probation and parole agencies that supervise adults. These data collections define adults as persons subject to the jurisdiction of an adult court or correctional agency. Juveniles sentenced as adults in a criminal court are considered adults. Juveniles under the jurisdiction of a juvenile court or correctional agency are excluded from these data. Starting in January of each calendar year, the two surveys collect data on the number of adults supervised in the community on both January 1 and December 31 of the previous calendar year, the number of entries to and exits from supervision during the reporting year, and the characteristics of the probation and parole populations at yearend. Both surveys cover the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. federal system. BJS depends on the voluntary participation of state central reporters and separate state, county, and court agencies for these data. Data for the U.S. federal system are provided through BJS’s Federal Justice Statistics Program, which obtains community supervision data from the Office of Probation and Pretrial Services, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
The Corrections Statistical Analysis Tool (CSAT) - Parole provides data from the Annual Parole Survey back to 1994. A separate CSAT - Probation provides data from the Annual Probation Survey back to 1994. Prior to 1994, data are available in annual BJS publications.
Definitions
Absconder—Includes persons who are still on parole but who have failed to report and cannot be located. Excludes parolees reported under other supervision statuses.
Active supervision—Includes parolees required to regularly contact a supervisory parole authority in person, by mail, by telephone, or electronically. Excludes parolees reported under other supervision statuses.
Adult supervision rate—This is the rate obtained by dividing the count of parolees in a particular year by the U.S. adult resident population for that year, then multiplying by 100,000. The adult supervision rate has been reported in the BJS series Probation and Parole Populations, although this tool may include data updates made after reports were published. See also supervision rate.
Community corrections—The supervision of criminal offenders in the resident population, as opposed to confining them in secure correctional facilities. The two main types of community corrections supervision are probation and parole. Community corrections is also referred to as community supervision.
Discretionary release from prison—Persons who entered supervision as a result of a parole board decision, governor's pardon, or commutation of sentence.
Drug offense—Includes unlawful possession, sale, use, distribution, importation, growing, or manufacturing of narcotic drugs.
Inactive supervision—Includes parolees who are not under active supervision and who are not reported under another supervision status.
Imputed—Indicates the count was estimated by BJS because the respondent was unable to provide either an actual or estimated value. All data imputed by BJS are footnoted in the data tables. For information on how imputations were made, see the Methodology section in the Probation and Parole Populations series for the specific year of data.
Mandatory release from prison—Persons who entered supervision as a result of a determinate sentencing statute or good-time provision.
Only have financial conditions remaining—Includes parolees for whom this is their only supervision status.
Other violent offense—Includes murder, manslaughter, robbery, kidnapping, assault, and other violent offenses. Excludes sex offenses.
Parole—A period of conditional supervised release in the community following a prison term. It includes parolees released through discretionary or mandatory supervised release from prison, those released through other types of post-custody conditional supervision, and those sentenced to a term of supervised release.
Probation—A court-ordered period of correctional supervision in the community, generally as an alternative to incarceration. In some cases, probation can be a combined sentence of incarceration followed by a period of community supervision.
Property offense—Includes burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, fraud, and other property offenses.
Sex offense—Includes any forcible or nonforcible sex act. Excludes prostitution, commercialized vice, and domestic violence and other violent offenses.
Special conditional release from prison—Includes parolees on community supervision who received a medical release, an early release for the terminally ill, or other special release.
Supervision rate—This is the rate obtained by dividing the count of parolees in a particular year by the U.S. total resident population for that year, then multiplying by 100,000. The total resident population includes the entire U.S. resident population, including those under age 18. The supervision rate has not been reported in the BJS series Probation and Parole Populations. See also adult supervision rate.
Supervised out of state—Includes active and inactive parolees under the jurisdiction of one state who are supervised by authorities of another state.
Term of supervised release from prison—Persons who entered parole supervision as the result of a sentence by a judge to a fixed period of incarceration based on a determinate statute, immediately followed by a fixed period of supervised release.