Assignment task: Thinking About the Issues Probation and parole, but especially the former, are the backbone of the U.S. penal system. If people were not placed on probation or released on parole, the correctional system, as well as state and federal budgets, would quickly be overwhelmed. Consider, too, that at least 1.5 million parolees and probationers suffer from some form of mental illness, while over half a million report the far more serious and complicated SMI.
1. Given the large number of mentally ill people who are incarcerated, what do you think about using mental condition as a determining factor in who is granted either probation or parole?
2. Should it be a mitigating factor (i.e., viewed positively when considering conditional release) or an aggravating factor (i.e., working against awarding conditional release)?
3. Do you think that this policy shift would create additional community-based problems that might prove as costly in terms of money and additional criminality?
4. Who do you think would benefit from such a policy shift? How?