Publishers Weekly
★ 10/16/2023
Former New York City Probation Commissioner Schiraldi debuts with a captivating account of the history and current state of criminal supervision in the U.S. Parole and probation were both created in the 19th century, the former as a way to grant early release to inmates who had displayed good behavior and the latter to keep convicted people out of prison altogether. Over the course of the 20th century, both morphed into a law enforcement tool of surveillance and a main cause of incarceration, according to Schiraldi, who notes that parole and probation violations now account for nearly half of all people entering prison in America. Schiarldi describes how people under criminal supervision experience it as a kind of torture due to the stress of constantly worrying about check-ins—some have even chosen to go back to prison instead of living with it—and much of the book details the negative impact mass surveillance has on the Black and brown communities it disproportionately targets. He focuses on Philadelphia, where a 2014 study showed that recidivism due to supervision violations was correlated to how vigorously people on probation were supervised, not the severity of their original crimes or misdemeanors. Drawing on his own attempts at reforming the system in New York (involving nonprofits to provide rehabilitative services for supervised individuals and drastically reducing the number of supervision violations issued), Schiraldi provides valuable insight for activists. This astute and accessible study illuminates a vital yet understudied topic. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Praise for Mass Supervision:
"Schiraldi persuasively argues that probation and parole, together known as community supervision, have failed to achieve their twin goals of reducing incarceration and enhancing public safety."
—Christian Science Monitor
"A necessary corrective that lays bare the harms and failures. . . . Mass Supervision should be an eye-opener for anyone who's never stopped to consider what probation and parole do to so many people in the United States and to get mad about it."
—Inquest
"In this valuable book, Vincent Schiraldi firmly establishes that the people currently on parole or probation—as well as the community at large—would be better off and safer if both systems were to disappear."
—The Arts Fuse
"[A] disturbing analysis of the little-understood, long-calcified systems of probation and parole. . . . Schiraldi writes with compassion and an experienced eye. . . . An expertly developed contribution to progressive debates on civil liberties and imprisonment."
—Kirkus Reviews
"A captivating account of the history and current state of criminal supervision in the U.S. . . . Schiraldi provides valuable insight for activists. This astute and accessible study illuminates a vital yet understudied topic."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“This is a real moment for parole and probation in America. This book chronicles the rise of mass supervision and the birth of the movement to reform it. From the injustices I experienced on probation and the #FreeMeek movement that resulted in my release, to the experiences of millions of Americans who are tormented by the supervision-to-prison pipeline, to the many changes REFORM Alliance and others have already brought about, this book takes us from the creation of the system, through its transformations and reforms, and directs us to the hard work remaining to free men and women still unjustly trapped on supervision. Schiraldi captures how far we’ve come in the movement to fix parole and probation and reminds us how much more we can do if we stand together against injustice.”
—Robert “Meek Mill” Williams, recording artist, entrepreneur, and co-founder of the REFORM Alliance
"When I hired Vinny Schiraldi to run New York City's probation department, I wanted someone who would shake up a broken system; and that's exactly what we got. He played a critical role in helping our administration reduce both incarceration and crime to record lows, and the experiences and insights he shares in Mass Supervision hold lessons for the whole country."
—Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City (2000-2013) and founder of Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies
“Schiraldi combines the rare gifts of a memoirist and a reformer calling our attention to the mass casualties of our broken probation and parole systems. On the front lines for decades, no one is in a better position to help shrink and ultimately dismantle the problem of mass supervision than he is. Anyone in search of sanity and solutions must read this book.”
—Khalil Gibran Muhammad, professor at Harvard Kennedy School and the Radcliffe Institute
“With Mass Supervision, Schiraldi asks us all to consider what it means to be on ‘papers,’ that colloquial term for being under state supervision. Schiraldi knows what the rest of us don’t about probation or parole—and in this book he reveals it: from its history to all its present disasters. But more than this, Schiraldi offers a pathway forward, to less supervision and more freedom and more safety. That’s why this one matters.”
—Reginald Dwayne Betts, founder and director, Freedom Reads, and author of Felon
“The iron grip of mass incarceration reaches far beyond the walls of American prisons and jails, and in Mass Supervision, Schiraldi spotlights poorly understood and operated systems of probation and parole. Schiraldi shines a light on how millions of Americans are surveilled and ‘supervised’ by the government in a way that neither respects their humanity nor leads to greater public safety. This paradigm-shifting look at an unexplored aspect of our criminal legal system is a must-read to make crucial changes in the name of justice.”
—Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black
“This is a masterful account of probation and parole by someone uniquely situated to write it. Schiraldi, recently New York City’s Commissioner of Corrections, raises foundational questions—how fair are these systems, do they promote public safety—not as an academic exercise but from the perspective of a government official who actually ran them, a scholar determined to study them, and an advocate determined to change them. It should be required reading for everyone in the criminal legal system.”
—Honorable Nancy Gertner, former U.S. district judge and senior lecturer, Harvard Law School
“Mass Supervision is masterfully written and details the evolution of parole, probation, and its collateral consequences and deep racial inequality. Schiraldi uses research, practice, and personal experiences to engage the reader to explore the book’s central questions—how has parole or probation made us safer or benefited those on supervision, their family and communities, or reduced the racial disparities that exist in our criminal legal system by providing diversion or early release from prison. Mass Supervision challenges us to step out of our role as advocates, researchers, legislators, parole or probation officers, correctional administrators, prosecutors, or judiciary officials and to embrace the facts of our history, and to be bold, intentional, and focused in order to eliminate the harm mass supervision inflicts on mankind and disproportionately Black and brown people and communities of color. Mass Supervision provide us an opportunity and road map to continue to reduce the use of parole and probation and eliminate its collateral consequences by ensuring whatever strategy (abolition or incremental) change our nation pursues, is shaped by the voices and communities of the people most impacted by the criminal legal system.”
—Stanley Richards, deputy chief executive officer, The Fortune Society
Kirkus Reviews
2023-06-10
Disturbing analysis of the little-understood, long-calcified systems of probation and parole.
Schiraldi, the probation commissioner for New York City under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, had previously administered youth correction services in Washington, D.C., so he’s familiar with the hidden costs of bureaucracies engendering an illusion of safety. The author’s core argument is grim yet undeniable. Despite hopeful origins, the concept of mass supervision “morphed into a trip-wire into incarceration for millions of people who are not really free the way the rest of us not under supervision take for granted.” The author makes his case in eight well-organized chapters, moving from supervision’s history through key subtopics including racial bias and insidious movements toward privatization, which profit off the vulnerable. “The mission of an early probation advocate was that of a challenger to the status quo,” writes Schiraldi, and it was frequently viewed as a mechanism for being soft on crime. Yet “by 1930 all states had parole,” beginning an era the author characterizes as a “stew of optimism and paternalism.” By the 1970s, this rehabilitative tendency was replaced by a punitive backlash based on flawed academic conclusions that “nothing works,” and mass incarceration exploded. Indeed, many Americans now become incarcerated due to “non-criminal, technical violations” of probation rules. Schiraldi explores the impact on families and on communities of color—including flashpoints like the infamous case of hip-hop artist Meek Mill in Philadelphia—and how a persistent lack of funding has increased reliance on privatization and fee-based supervision, further impoverishing those ensnared in the system. He concludes by advocating for “approaches to both downsizing and completely eliminating community supervision,” essentially through “collective efficacy” beyond law enforcement, while noting that “jurisdictions that have substantially reduced supervision have not suffered increases in crime.” Schiraldi writes with compassion and an experienced eye, although his argumentative points are occasionally generalized or repetitive.
An expertly developed contribution to progressive debates on civil liberties and imprisonment.
