This report describes trends in the overall community supervision population and changes in the probation and parole populations to include statistics on the number of offenders entering and exiting the system and their average length of stay. It discusses the outcome of supervision and the rate at which offenders completed their terms or were returned to incarceration for violating the conditions of supervision.

Highlights:

• The number of adults under community supervision decreased by 40,500 to 4,781,300 offenders at the end of 2012.
• Both the probation (down 38,300) and parole (down 500) populations dropped.
• During 2012 an estimated 4.1 million adults moved into or out of the probation system.
• Probation entries declined for the fifth consecutive year, while probation exits declined for the third consecutive year.
• Sixty-eight percent of probationers completed their terms of supervision or were discharged early, a slight increase from 66 percent in 2011.
• The rate of incarceration among probationers at risk for violating their conditions of supervision declined below 2008 rates.
• The adult parole population fell to 851,200.
• Parole entries decreased by 9.1 percent and exits by 6.8 percent from 2011 to 2012.
• The state parole population fell 0.6 percent, from an estimated 744,700 to 740,400, while the federal parole population grew 3.5 percent, from 106,955 to 110,739.
• Fifty-eight percent of parolees completed their terms of supervision or were discharged early in 2012, an increase from 52 percent in 2011.
• The reincarceration rate among parolees at risk for violating their conditions of supervision declined to 9 percent during 2012 from 12 percent in 2011.
  

For additional information go to the Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4844, December 19, 2013, NCJ 243826.