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Offender characteristics
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The Bureau of Justice Statistics maintains an annual data series, the Annual Parole Survey designed to provide national, federal, and jurisdiction-level data from administrative records on adults supervised in the community on parole. Data include the total number of parolees supervised, by jurisdiction, on January 1 and December 31 of each year and the number of adults who entered and exited parole supervision during the year. Additional data include the characteristics, such as gender, race and Hispanic origin, and offense of parolees under supervision at the end of each year.

Summary findings 

National Trends

Sex

Percentage of adults on parole, by sex, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2009, and 2010
  1995 2000 2005 2009 2010
Total   100%   100%   100%   100%   100%
     Male  90  88 88  88 88
     Female  10  12  12 12 12
Note: Sex includes persons for which sex was reported.

 

Source: Probation and Parole in the United States, 2005 and Probation and Parole in the United States, 2010.
Data collected through BJS' Annual Parole Survey, an annual series that began in 1980.

Race and Hispanic origin

Percentage of adults on parole, by race and Hispanic origin, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2009, and 2010
  1995 2000 2005 2009 2010
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
     White*  34  38 41 41 42
     Black*  45  40 40 39 39
     Hispanic/Latino  21  21 18 18 18
     American Indian/Alaska Native*  1 1   1 1 1
     Asian/Native Hawaiian/
     other Pacific Islander		 --  --  1 1 1
     Two or more races* ... ... -- -- --
Note: Race and Hispanic origin includes persons for which race and
Hispanic origin were reported. Detail may not sum to total due to rounding.
--Less than 0.5%.
...Not available.
*Excludes persons of Hispanic origin.

Source: Probation and Parole in the United States, 2005 and Probation and Parole in the United States, 2010.
Data collected through BJS' Annual Parole Survey, an annual series that began in 1980.

Type of offense and most serious offense

Percentage of adults on parole, by type of offense and most serious offense, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2009, and 2010
  1995 2000 2005 2009 2010
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
     Violent ... ... 25 27 27
     Property ... ... 25 23 24
     Drug ...  ...  37 36 35
    Weaponsa ... ... ... 3 3
     Public orderb ... ...  6 ... ...
     Otherc ...  ...   7 10 12

Note: Type of offense includes persons for which offense was reported. Offense data was not collected prior to 2002.
aThe 2008 collection was the first year weapon offenses were collected separately.
bIn the 2005 collection public-order offenses were collected separately.  Includes weapon offenses in 2005.
cIn 2009 and 2010 includes public-order offenses except weapon offenses.
...Not available.

Source: Probation and Parole in the United States, 2005 and Probation and Parole in the United States, 2010.
Data collected through BJS' Annual Parole Survey, an annual series that began in 1980.

Sentence Length (incarceration)

Percentage of adults on parole, by maximum sentence to incarceration, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2009, and 2010
  1995 2000 2005 2009 2010
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
     Less than 1 year 6 3 6  5 5
     1 year of more 94 97 94 95 95
Note: Maximum sentence to incarceration includes persons for
which maximum sentence to incarceration was reported.

Source: Probation and Parole in the United States, 2005 and Probation and Parole in the United States, 2010.
Data collected through BJS' Annual Parole Survey, an annual series that began in 1980.

Supervision Status

Percentage of adults on parole, by supervision status, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2009, and 2010
  1995  2000 2005  2009 2010
 Total  100%  100%  100% 100% 100%
      Active  78  83 83 85 82
      Inactive  11  4  4 4 7
      Absconder  6  7  7 5 6
      Supervised out of jurisdiction  4  5  4 4 4
      Financial conditions remaining  ...  ...  ... -- --
      Other  -- 1   1 2 2
Note: Supervision status includes persons for which supervision status
was reported. Detail may not sum to total due to rounding.
...Not available.
-- Less than 0.5%.

Source: Probation and Parole in the United States, 2005 and Probation and Parole in the United States, 2010.
Data collected through BJS' Annual Parole Survey, an annual series that began in 1980.

Jurisdiction-level data

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Terms & Definitions

Parole Parole refers to criminal offenders who are conditionally released from prison to serve the remaining portion of their sentence in the community. Prisoners may be released to parole by a parole board decision (discretionary release/discretionary parole), according to provisions of a statute (mandatory release/mandatory parole), through other types of post-custody conditional supervision, or as the result of a sentence to a term of supervised release. In the federal system, a term of supervised release is a sentence to a fixed period of supervision in the community that follows a sentence to a period of incarceration in federal prison, both of which are ordered at the time of sentencing by a federal judge. Parolees can have a number of different supervision statuses including active supervision, which means they are required to regularly report to a parole authority in person, by mail, or by telephone. Some parolees may be on an inactive status which means they are excluded from regularly reporting, and that could be due to a number of reasons. For instance, some may receive a reduction in supervision, possibly due to compliance or meeting all required conditions before the parole sentence terminates, and therefore may be moved from an active to inactive status. Other supervision statues include parolees who only have financial conditions remaining, have absconded, or who have active warrants. Parolees are also typically required to fulfill certain conditions and adhere to specific rules of conduct while in the community. Failure to comply with any of the conditions can result in a return to incarceration.
 
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