Abstract
There are close to seven million people under correctional supervision in the United States, both in prison and in the community. The US criminal justice system is widely regarded as an inherently unmerciful institution by scholars and policymakers but also by people who have spent time in prison and their family members; it is deeply punitive, racist, expansive and damaging in its reach. In this article, we probe the meanings of mercy for the institution of parole.
Highlights
The number of people under state supervision in prison in America equals the populations of major cities like New York and dwarfs the population of cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and Phoenix (Kaeble and Glaze, 2016)
These numbers are especially high for those serving time for violent crimes (Courtney et al, 2017; Sered, 2019); representing more than half of the prison population, the release of men and women convicted of these crimes pose a significant challenge for decarceration (Sawyer and Wagner, 2020)
There are a number of US-based initiatives aimed at cutting the incarceration rates in the country, such as the Macarthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge, aimed at reducing jail populations, or the initiative known as ‘cut50’, lead by the Dream Corps and aimed at reducing the prison population by 50% over 10 years
Summary
The number of people under state supervision in prison in America equals the populations of major cities like New York and dwarfs the population of cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and Phoenix (Kaeble and Glaze, 2016). In the context of existing criminal justice decision-making, mercy is typically defined as a form of compassion or leniency that is given to individuals without or independent of a legal entitlement, right or claim to such compassion, either because they have been sentenced in accordance with the law’s requirements or the facts of their case or crime may not be viewed by the public to merit such compassion or leniency.
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