Mass Supervision
Probation, Parole, and the Illusion of Safety and Freedom
With a foreword by Bruce Western
Named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR
Shortlisted, 2024 Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice
The most comprehensive critique of probation and parole—and a provocative and compelling argument for abolishing both—from the former Probation Commissioner of New York City
Imagine if probation didn't exist. And I came to you with
$80 million and 30,000 people the courts considered troubled and troubling. And
you could do anything you wantedwith that money to make New York City
safer and help people turn their lives around. Would you go out and hire a thousand
civil service-protected bureaucrats to supervise people as they piss in a cup
once a week, and to tell them to go forth and sin no more?
—Vincent Schiraldi’s Job Interview with NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg
We’ve heard a lot in recent years about the nearly 2.1 million people incarcerated in American prisons and jails. But what about the approximately 4 million more who are on probation and parole—monitored by the state at great expense and at risk of being sent to prison at the whim of a probation or parole officer for the least imaginable infraction?
, he combines firsthand experience with deep research on the inadequately explored practices of probation and parole, to illustrate how these forms of state supervision have strayed from their original goal of providing constructive and rehabilitative alternatives to prison. They have become instead, Schiraldi argues, a “recidivism trap” for people trying to lead productive lives in the wake of a criminal conviction.
incarceration, have little impact on crime rates, and needlessly disrupt countless lives. Ultimately, he argues that they should be dramatically downsized or even abolished completely.
Vincent Schiraldi is the founder of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice and the Justice Policy Institute. He has served as director of juvenile corrections in Washington, DC, commissioner of the New York City Department of Probation, and commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction. He has been a senior research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and co-founded the Columbia University Justice Lab. He is currently secretary of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services and has written extensively for outlets ranging from the New York Times to The Marshall Project. The author of Mass Supervision (The New Press), he lives just outside of Washington, DC.
