By Scott Peyton

The entry points for community supervision in Louisiana are complex and diverse and are the result of years of legislative and policy changes.

KEY POINTS:

• A thorough review of the Probation and Parole budget is recommended to identify opportunities for increased efficiency and to maintain the effectiveness and impact of community supervision. 

• The Louisiana legislature should review and update current Louisiana Department of Corrections policies concerning Earned Compliance Credits to conform with American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) model legislation. 

• To ensure consistency across the state, and to assess the effectiveness of the violation/revocation process, probation and parole should report quarterly revocation data by district office and officer.

• Special and general conditions of supervision should only include conditions directly related to public safety and should be tailored to the specific needs of the probationer. 

• Expand and fund partnerships with non-profit organizations.

Austin, TX: Right On Crime, 2024. 28p.

By Sara Bastomski, Matt Herman, Alison Martin and Sara Friedman

Between April 2021 and February 2022, The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center conducted an analysis of racial equity across Montana’s criminal justice system in partnership with Montana judicial branch stakeholders. This work identified decision-making points in Montana’s criminal justice system in which there are disparities between American Indian and White people. Key findings include American Indian people are more likely to be incarcerated for felony criminal endangerment and public order offenses relative to comparable White people; American Indian people are incarcerated for longer than similarly situated White people; and American Indian people are more likely to be revoked from probation, conditional release, and parole than comparable White people. Based on these findings, the CSG Justice Center proposed five recommendations to improve racial equity in Montana’s criminal justice system.

New York: Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, 2022. 49p.