RT Article
T1 Parole, parole boards and the institutional dilemmas of contemporary prison release
JF Punishment & society
VO 25
IS 3
SP 621
OP 640
A1 Guiney, Thomas C.
LA English
YR 2023
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1850577803
AB The decision to release is a defining feature of the carceral experience: at once a necessary function of a dynamic penal system, and a highly contested form of symbolic communication where the anxieties and contradictions of contemporary penality begin to coalesce. In this paper I argue that the institutions we rely upon to make these determinations in a fair, consistent and efficient manner are under increasing strain. Drawing upon insights from historical institutionalism, I seek to show that the parole board model of discretionary decision-making that first emerged during the highwater mark of mid-twentieth century penal modernism has proved remarkably resilient to reform, but is slowly fracturing into a more complex, multi-layered prison release landscape. I explore the implications of this gradual historical transformation and conclude this paper with a call for new ways of thinking about prison release as an increasingly interconnected sphere of penal governance.
K1 Institutions
K1 Penal Policy
K1 Sentencing
K1 prison release
K1 Parole
DO 10.1177/14624745221097371