SOC371H5 Lecture 8: Collateral Consequences of Punishment: Individuals
Collateral Consequences of Punishment: Individuals
November 28, 2018
Best way to help ex-offenders is through pardons as it increases their chances of acquiring opportunities by
riding them of their criminal record, problem is most people don’t know the process to acquire one and tends to
be expensive
Questions of the day
1. Describe the current state of parole in Canada and the role that parole conditions play in the making re-
entry so difficult
• we create parole conditions that for ex-offenders are unattainable; major parole conditions is having a
full-time job but it becomes difficult with a criminal record because no one wants to hire people with
criminal record, violate conditions and can return to prison
2. What is the relationship between rehabilitation, parole conditions and choice – Turnbull an Hannah-
Moffat
• designed to manage people in a particular way; telling women to not associate with certain people, way
of governing who they associate with and what they do, not as easy, rehabilitation is based on whether
people can abide by their parole conditions, we set them up for failure; created a system that’s
unattainable
3. Identify and explain the main barriers to re-entry. Describe how these barriers are related to race, class
or gender
• jobs, being able to access welfare as soon as one gets criminal record they become barred from that for
life, no job, not allowed to get welfare; using food stamps and soup kitchens is restricted for them
4. In what ways does the mark of a criminal record make reintegration difficult for ex-prisoners
• underprivileged minorities have hard time being able to stay crime free; systemically disadvantaged
because economics go hand in hand with convictions
• women are most uneducated and unemployed and have more trauma background than man
• coming out of any punishment is going to be challenging for most vulnerable
• system is deigned against those who are
• race plays a role in the connection between criminal records and jobs, people are less likely to hire
someone who is African American with a criminal record as opposed to someone who is white with a
criminal record
National parole board of Canada
• controls early release or statutory release for federal offenders
• quasi-independent tribunal – hear cases for people on community sanctions and prison
• appointed by the government; not employed by CSC, separate judicial body run by government of
Canada
• make more decisions than they hear cases; some people have multiple charges per case
• decide if you’re eligible for parole; comes form weighing risk and public safety
Context of parole violation
• main principles
o protection of society – primarily maintained through compliance; trumps individual liberty for
the sake of public safety
o least restrictive measures – do not get subjected to huge amounts of conditions if its not
warranted; should be related to the convictions
• each case is different and thus the criteria used are different
• between 70% to 80% are successful; low recidivism rate in Canada – complete sentence, don’t violate
and go on with their lives after conviction and parole
• most come back to prison because they violate their conditions; recidivism statistics often include parole
violations and not re-offending
• people who have problems with parole are not “dangerous” and there is a reduction in violent re-
offending, quite successful with parolees in Canada
• mot federal offenders who re-offend mostly violate parole conditions
• gradual and controlled release guarantees success – having a step program where they go from prison to
a less restrictive conditions is a better pathway than simply releasing them; helps keep them compliant,
if under surveillance probability of violating is less than when they are not
• parole is an important part of how sentencing will be served – allows ex-offenders to spend rest of
sentence in their community; connection with community, families and support
o conditions they have to comply with can be strict
• public safety risk s the primary characteristics determined by
o criminal history – higher risk assessment, less likely to get parole and more conditions
o institutional behaviour – compliance with prison programs and conditions grants parole; if in
segregation most likely will no be granted parole
o release plan – what kind of community going back to, associates in contact with
• offenders convicted of first-degree murder serve life, second-degree murder then there is 10 to 25 years
with possible parole
• advantages
o parole is cheaper than prison; most restrictive housing placement is most expensive
o facilities reintegration – parole gets people have into the community faster, getting out earlier
helps them integrate faster
o allows for monitoring in the community – supervision helps with compliance
o allows access to programs and services in the community – making sure support is available
within community of release
• disadvantages
o conditions are often not attainable – conditions are not as negotiable, and violations lead to re-
entry
o growing number of prison readmissions for revocations – breached conditions reduces chances
of release after re-entry into prisons
Turnbull and Hannah-Moffat
• how parole conditions are disciplinary tools; make people compliant and self-governed
• productive; produce people who stay crime free, abide by law
• gendered – women have harder time with conditions than men; women offenders are governed through
different factors
o awareness, consumption – they should understand that they have to abstain from substance abuse
and criminogenic behaviour
o regulating relationships - not allowed to have contact with people who have criminal records,
drug-use histories; keep them from
o spatial regulation – not allowed to be in places where drugs and alcohols are present; cant go to
any space where people may be drinking and smoking; problematic as parole offices are within
communities where conditions will be violated
