Probation and Parole Supervision of Child Sexual Offenders

The United States currently has over 5 million persons under the supervision of the criminal justice system. More than 1.6 million of them are incarcerated in local, state and federal institutions. The remainder are on probation and parole, which are considered to be community-based corrections.

The most recent available FY99 Annual Report of the Department of Corrections in Georgia, (http://www.dcor.state.ga.us), provides information regarding the numbers and characteristics of persons in the state who are the under the supervision of the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC).

Currently, there are 5 categories of probationary status: Standard (77%), High (10%), Max (3%), Intensive (5%), and Specialized (5%). Specialized Probation Supervision (SPS) caseloads are reserved for those probationers who have committed sexual crimes, crimes against children, and crimes of family violence. In June of 1999, there were a total of 4,369 probationers in the SPS program out of the total of 139,527 persons on probation. Probationers outnumber offenders in the prison system by about 300%, and outnumber parolees by about 6 to 1. Some sexual offenders (about 300+ more) may be in other probationary categories besides SPS, but are generally not in the Standard population so that monitoring can be more closely accomplished. After 2 years on active probationary status, Georgia law mandates that probationers serving longer probationary sentences move to a less closely monitored "Administrative supervision" if all probationary goals have been reached. However, of the total population of probationers, 81% were convicted of felonies. Thus, balancing costs, housing, personnel issues, etc. with the safety of the community is a very complex process.