The Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, New York University School of Law, October 2024
“Several factors influence a parole applicant’s fate. But too often, the determinative factor is the nature of their conviction, despite the fact that the applicant will never be able to change that reality….
While the last three years have seen a widening of the racial disparities gap, such disparities in parole releases are a longstanding problem. Taking all of the data together, from June 2016 through June 2024, the Parole Board released 33.23% of all people of color appearing before the Board, while releasing 41.56% of white people. In other words, for the last nine years of available data, the Parole Board was 22.26% less likely to release a person of color than a white person. This systemic failure remains persistent and is only getting worse.
