Those who have been convicted of crimes are sometimes able to get parole. Rather than having to stay behind bars, the individual is allowed to have some element of freedom, although this is supervised and they are monitored. For instance, they have to meet with a parole officer and they have a list of rules of things that they are not allowed to do.
However, there’s no guarantee that those who are released on parole are going to follow the stipulations of that parole. Someone who gets out after causing a drunk driving accident, for example, might be told that they can no longer consume alcohol. But are they really going to abstain at all times?
As such, it can often be a risk to let people out on parole, especially if they should never have been granted that parole in the first place. Stats about arrests after release back up this risk.
Prisoners getting arrested again
One thing to consider is how often prisoners are arrested after they’ve been released. In one study, within three years of release, 68% of the prisoners in the study had been arrested again. By the time the study got to six years, that rate had risen to 79%. Once they got to nine years, they found that 83% of these individuals had been arrested a second time.
This shows that those who have gone to prison certainly may not have been reformed in any meaningful way and could still cause serious issues if they engage in criminal behavior again. You could even be injured by someone who should never have been let out early. If this happens to you, make sure that you know exactly what legal options you have.