What are the historical movements that led to the widespread development of parole in the United States?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The progression of events that started moving toward parole started in the early seventeenth century, when English judges began to banish offenders overseas rather than order them executed. In 1617, the Privy Counsel of the British Parliament standardized this practice by passing an order granting reprieves to convicts willing to be transported to the colonies. In 1717, the British Parliament passed legislation embodying the concept of property in service, which transferred control of prisoners to a contractor or shipmaster until the expiration of their sentence. Their services could be resold when arriving in the colonies. Transportation became the most common sentence for theft offenders. In 1853, the English Penal Servitude Act all but ended transportation and substituted imprisonment as punishment. Part of this act made it possible to grant a ticket-of-leave to those who had served a sufficient portion of their prison sentence. This conditional release gave former prisoners conditions of release written on a license they had to carry with them at all times. Conditions usually included sobriety, lawful behavior, and hard work. Many releasees violated these provisions, prompting criticism of the system. Members of prisoner aid societies began to help supervise and care for them. The concept of parole spread to the United States. Volunteers in Philadelphia began to help offenders after they were released from prison, and in 1851 they appointed two agents to work with inmates discharged from Pennsylvania penal institutions. In the 1870s Zebulon Brockway selected rehabilitated offenders from Elmira Reformatory using a carefully weighted screening procedure. The offenders were eligible for early release under the supervision of citizen volunteers known as guardians. The guardians met with parolees at least once a month and submitted written reports on their progress. The parole concept spread rapidly from there. By 1927, all but three states had established some sort of parole release.