A study of four California cities found despite popular perception, most people arrested were not on parole or probation. The analysis comes from the nonprofit Council of State Governments Justice Center.
The report covered arrests made in Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Redlands from January of 2008 through June of 2011. The Justice Center found one in five arrests was of an offender currently on parole or probation. It also found people under supervision were more likely to be arrested for drug offenses than other crimes.
Study authors determined that some tools used by law enforcement to predict a parolee’s risk of re-offending were effective – and they recommend improving those, and focusing on offenders at highest risk.
The data comes from the period before California implemented realignment to combat prison overcrowding. That was the shift of tens of thousands of prisoners from state to local control. The study recommends analyzing how realignment may change arrest patterns in the future.
