PRINTER'S NO. 1189
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
204
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY A. WILLIAMS, BARTOLOTTA, FONTANA, HUGHES, HAYWOOD,
DINNIMAN, KEARNEY AND SCHWANK, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019
A RESOLUTION
Designating the week of September 23 through 29, 2019, as
"Community Supervision Awareness Week" in Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, According to an April 25, 2018, report published by
Columbia University's Justice Lab, Pennsylvania has the highest
incarceration rate in the northeastern United States; and
WHEREAS, A recent analysis by the Council of State
Governments Justice Center found that 54% of prison admissions
in 2019 resulted from supervision violations, with one third of
those resulting from technical violations in which no new crime
was committed and which cost the Commonwealth an additional $334
million each year; and
WHEREAS, While one out of every 53 adults is supervised
nationally, in Pennsylvania, one out of every 24 adults is under
community supervision; and
WHEREAS, Pennsylvania has both the highest number, 122,351,
and rate of adults under supervision; and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Justice reported in
2016 that Pennsylvania's population of residents under community
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supervision grew by 5.3% from the previous year; and
WHEREAS, Meanwhile, the number of people on community
supervision declined by 1.5% nationally during the same period;
and
WHEREAS, The growing population of adults under supervision
and increasing responsibilities, including those relating to
registration of sex offenders, ignition interlock for driving
under the influence offenders and collecting DNA samples from
offenders, have placed a burden on county adult probation and
parole; and
WHEREAS, Each county probation department operates
independently of the others and on the basis of its own polices
and procedures with no parent agency to facilitate
communications among the departments or to ensure that best
practices are used in each county; and
WHEREAS, This burden is increasingly straining county budgets
and officer caseloads are rising to untenable rates while
recidivism is unchanged; and
WHEREAS, Reducing community supervision terms would allow
Pennsylvania's probation and parole supervising agencies to
focus on individuals for the period of time they are at the
greatest risk of offending; and
WHEREAS, The General Assembly is currently considering
legislation to provide additional funding and training to
probation and parole officers, providing Statewide guidelines
for addressing minor infractions of supervision and
incentivizing good behavior through early termination of
probation; and
WHEREAS, The whole of these reforms promise to refocus
community supervision on successful rehabilitation and reentry
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into society, while allowing officers to spend more time
supervising those most in need of their training and services;
therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate designate the week of September 23
through 29, 2019, as "Community Supervision Awareness Week" in
Pennsylvania.
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