Criminal Law
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS ON PROBATION AND PAROLE IN VIRGINIA
Based on the recent statistics presented by the Virginia Parole Board, the following data has been tabulated below:
Month/Year
Granted Parole
Not Granted
Revoked
Youthful Offender*
Parole Decisions
Percent
Total Jul-Dec 2005
174
7%
2149
217
Total 2006
164
4%
4186
660
Total 2007
218
5%
4402
653
420**
Total 2008
276
6%
4322
523
453***
Total 2009
380
9%
3972
377
426****
2010
Percent
Age 35 or less*
21
7%
/>
287
8
44
February
37
7%
466
13
47
March
19
13%
131
15
23
April
16
6%
257
22
30
May
37
6%
563
30
51
June
31
10%
275
34
50
July
16
8%
177
26
31
August
40
6%
666
25
53
September
23
11%
193
32
49
October
12
8%
146
27
23
November
22
5%
462
19
37
December
19
8%
209
35
29
Total 2010
293
7%
3832
286
467
2011
Percent
Age 36 or less*
18
6%
262
47
47
February
7
2%
313
17
39
March
9
2%
404
51
45
April
14
3%
426
18
39
May
12
4%
317
19
34
June
2
1%
159
37
13
July
13
3%
374
28
51
75
3%
2255
217
268
Black Prisoners as a Percentage of Parole Board Decisions in Virginia
Month/Year
Granted
Not Granted
Revoked
2010
Percent
Percent
Percent
August
0.58
0.54
0.88
September
0.57
0.63
0.66
October
0.76
0.69
0.64
November
0.68
0.69
0.63
December
0.58
0.59
0.66
2011
Percent
Percent
Percent
0.67
0.65
0.72
February
0.75
0.65
0.38
March
0.44
0.73
0.69
April
0.5
0.69
0.83
May
0.73
0.61
0.68
June
0.5
0.6
0.62
July
0.77
0.66
0.82
According to the report released by Virginia CURE dated September 26, 2011, it can be seen based on the statistics provided in Table 1 that the outstanding grant rate is one of the lowest rate recorded in their entire history of Virginia’s parole and probation. This can be seen from the data in January 2010 which was down to 7% or 21 out of 287 applications and slightly peaked up by 1% in December to the rate of 8% or 19 out of 209 applications. This is the data corresponding to offenders who are 35 years of age or lower. For the year 2010, the total number of granted paroles is 293, which was extremely lower compared to the total number of parole applications which were denied that year with a total number of 3832.
For the succeeding year of 2011, the month of January revealed that the percentage was 6% or 18 prisoners who were granted parole out of the total of 262 applications for that month alone. The data was only until July of 2011 which shows 3% or 13 out of the 374 parole applications was granted. There were thirteen prisoners who were given the privilege of parole as of July of 2011. Hence, the total grant rate of Virginia Parole Board is equivalent to 3.3% among the total number of 387 decisions promulgated by the board. This is the data corresponding to offenders who are 35 years of age or lower. This is one of the all-time lowest percentages in the entire history of Virginia Parole and Probations Department.
The biggest number of parole decisions was granted to youth offenders and was consistent for the years 2005 to 2009, 174, 164, 218, 276 and 380.
For the black offenders, there were 28 parole revocations for 23 black offenders as of July of 2011. According to the data of Virginia CURE (2011), there were ten black prisoners were given approval for the parole applications, while 248 of the other black applicants were denied of parole. Based on the recent statistics, there are twenty percent (20%) black Americans who form part of Virginia parole and probation population, and they represent 68% of the parole board decision as of July 2011 (Virginia CURE, 2011). Although at present, studies have shown that the black Americans are no longer the minority race in America, it can been seen based on the current statistics that they have a lower tendency to be granted parole according to this particular data obtained from Virginia Parole Board.
References
Maguire, K. (1996). Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1995. New York: Diane Publishing.
Shahidullah, S.M. (2008). Crime Policy in America. Maryland: University Press of America.
Virginia CURE (2011). Monthly Virginia Parole Board Decisions for July 2005-2011. Web. Retrieved from
