Offender Supervision

Offender Supervision

Glossary of Terms
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As a result of the unanimous passage of the Omnibus Crime Reduction and Sentencing Reform Act (SRA) of 2010, South Carolina has demonstrated a significant progress and success as it relates to criminal justice reforms. The various mandates of the SRA made it possible for the development and implementation of alternative strategies to incarceration in order to reduce the state’s reliance on prisons. The overall goal of the SRA was to reduce crime in cost effective ways. By doing so, the goals of the SRA was to:

  1. Adopt reasonable sentencing reforms by increasing the consequences for certain violent offenses while ensuring fairness and certainty in sentencing; as well as make certain justice for crime victims.
  2. Improve release practices through the implementation of cost-effective reentry strategies to improve successful transition from incarceration to the community for eligible inmates.
  3. Strengthen probation and parole by shifting limited resources to supervise high risk-offenders using evidence-based practices while implementing new supervision strategies geared towards those offenders least likely to re-offend.
  4. Establish ongoing oversight through the formation of the Sentencing Reform Oversight Committee (SROC) which is tasked with reviewing the implementation of the recommendations made by the Sentencing Reform Commission. The SROC also reviews the various reports and plans as required by the SRA in addition to continuous evaluation of criminal justice reforms.

As an agency, the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services continues to demonstrate remarkable progress in the implementation of evidence-influenced correctional practices to reduce offender recidivism.  Much like other community corrections agencies faced with the pressure to do more with less, the Department is committed to the use of innovative, cost-effective strategies proven to reduce new crime and new victimization in South Carolina.