Bloated federal supervision system makes everyone less safe 

More released convicts living under the watchful eye of a probation officer means safer communities, right? Wrong. 

Big government has tainted the criminal justice system. This includes federal supervised release, which is failing everyone it is supposed to help, from taxpayers to law enforcement officers to those trying to rebuild their lives after prison.

The Safer Supervision Act before Congress would restore federal supervision to its intended scope and purpose, create safer communities and use taxpayer money more responsibly.

Congress originally established federal supervised release to help people “transition into the community after the service of a long prison term for a particularly serious offense, or to provide rehabilitation.” It was meant to be a targeted approach, applied only when deemed necessary for public safety or an individual’s successful re-entry into society.

Unfortunately, that’s not what the system does today. Instead of being used sparsely, as intended, federal supervised release has now become the default. Critically, this is not because it is being used for safety reasons — on the contrary, violent crime has decreased rapidly in the decades since supervised release was established. Government inertia has allowed the system to snowball unchecked. 

With more than 110,000 people on federal supervised release, and probation officers overburdened with skyrocketing caseloads, the people who need support from the system do not get it. This puts public safety at risk. When probation officers are stretched too thin to adequately monitor those people who are public safety risks, it leads to recidivism — new crimes that could be prevented if the system were functioning as designed. 

Putting people who are not threats to public safety under supervision is harmful in other ways. Apart from wasting valuable and scarce law enforcement resources, it can prevent people from successfully integrating back into society. 

The system is filled with “technical violations,” such as failing to make an appointment with a probation officer, that can send people back to prison and make it even harder for them to reintegrate into their communities and workplaces. In fact, over the last few years, twice as many people on supervised release were sent back to prison for “technical violations” than were for committing new crimes. Federal prison is costly; each day of a person serving federal time who should not be costs an extra $120, which adds up fast.

Taxpayers currently shell out $500 million per year to keep this failing supervision system afloat. If we want people leaving prison to maintain employment and positive family lives, both critical to preventing recidivism, we need to stop incarcerating them for non-crimes.

The bipartisan Safer Supervision Act, which has the backing of national law enforcement groups, would tackle big government bloat in the federal supervision system head-on. First, it would impose supervision only when necessary to prevent new crimes or ensure successful rehabilitation. 

Assessments would be conducted for each defendant to make this determination. This ensures that the system stops wasting valuable resources on people who are not threats to public safety — or worse, locking them back up for technical violations — and can actually focus on the people at higher risk of recidivism. Giving these folks proper support will reduce recidivism, making communities safer. 

Importantly, the legislation also rewards those who have taken accountability for their actions and are working to better themselves and contribute to society. People who have served half of their supervision period with good conduct and compliance and are not deemed a public safety risk will have their supervision terminated early. This will encourage positive behaviors. It is a well-documented phenomenon that incentive programs like this work, given successes in states like Missouri and Arizona.

The Safer Supervision Act is the first step toward refocusing the criminal justice system on evidence-based practices that improve public safety rather than simply expanding the system’s reach.

Another provision in the bill would give judges the option to send people on supervision who commit minor drug-related violations, such as failure to take a timely drug test, to rehabilitation centers instead of forcing them back into prison. This is a far more productive way of helping people manage substance use disorders while reducing unnecessary burdens on the criminal justice system.

The criminal justice system as a whole remains plagued by the disease of big government. The Safer Supervision Act will give people caught in the overgrown system a fighting shot at creating a new life and make communities safer in the process. 

Hannah Cox is president and co-founder of BASED Politics.