Parole survival and legislated change: A before/after study of parole revocation decision making

Abstract

A 1985 change in the Texas “good time” law provided a unique opportunity to study the effects of legislated change on a correctional process. For nearly five years the Texas Department of Corrections (TDC) had been laboring under both a court order that restricted the maximum capacity of its prison system and a growing felony offender population. According to key provisions of the revised law, the director of TDC could decide to release “returned inmates” in as little as three months, providing the revocation did not involve a new conviction. The law was intended to provide a means of controlling the Texas prison population at its source, TDC. The bill's sponsors, however, believed that the change also might have a profound impact on the processing of parole revocation hearings as accused parole violators exercised their new found “right” to return to the custody of TDC and possibly to a reparole in three months. The present study examines the legal and extralegal aspects of all waivers initiated in the y...