The Community Corrections and Reentry Working Group of the Roundtable on Racial Disparities in Massachusetts Criminal Courts has released a new policy brief, Racial Disparities in Community Supervision and Reentry: The Massachusetts Case (link to pdf).
Nationwide, the population under community supervision has declined significantly, driven in large part by major reductions in probation populations in four states, including Massachusetts. In this policy brief, we examine the Commonwealth’s progress to date in reducing the population under supervision and addressing racial disparities in supervision assignment, experience, and outcomes. The brief then considers additional reforms to further, and more directly, address racial disparities in probation, parole, and reentry outcomes. Finally, it addresses the barriers to realizing these measures, including the need for better data to evaluate the success of current and future measures.