Probation and Parole Reform

Ripple partnered with Columbia University’s Justice Lab, Van Jones’ #CUT50 and the Katal Center for Health, Equity and Justice to release two new reports looking at probation and parole as key drivers of mass incarceration with minimal benefit to public safety or individual rehabilitation.  We offered these reports as an exclusive to the Associated Press prior to public release, and the story was picked up in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, ABC News, the San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, Miami Herald, the Houston Chronicle, and over two dozen other major outlets around the country. In addition, the New York Times ran a front page story in the Metro section and a powerful editorial entitled The Problem with Parole.  There were also feature stories on WNYC, New York 1, in Yes Magazine; and we helped place an op-ed by the reports’ lead author, Vincent Schiraldi, in the Daily News entitled A Probation Explosion Keeps Too Many Chained as well as an op-ed by New York’s former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman entitled Close Rikers Sooner by Reforming Parole.  Hopefully this high-profile attention will catalyze meaningful change on this issue. As Van Jones said: “Now is the time to reimagine how probation and parole can truly help people reintegrate back into society- rather than simply being a trap that leads to needless reincarceration.”