Source: United States Courts
“I realized I could effect change as well as be the change,” said Brough, who now works as a driver transporting medical supplies and other goods across the Midwest. “It was fulfilling to know that my testimony played a pivotal role in the commission’s decision to make a rule change retroactive and allow more people like me to be released early and get a second chance at life.”
The Judiciary is making increased use of early release from supervision as a way to allow low-risk former supervisees to get their lives on track earlier than they otherwise could.
With early release, people who satisfy the terms of their probation and prove that they pose no danger to the community are freed from supervision before the date originally established by the court. Judges make the decisions on a case-by-case basis and must be satisfied that “such action is warranted by the supervisee’s conduct and is in the interest of justice,” according to a new report by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO).
The study found that the rate of approved early releases increased to 28 percent of all case closures in 2023, up from 22 percent in 2014. People who were considered low-risk based on scientific methods employed by probation offices were three times more likely to receive early termination than people in the high-risk category.
Early release from supervision can also remedy the excessive terms of supervision given to non-violent drug offenders in recent decades. The study showed that people convicted of drug offenses were about two times more likely to receive early termination – 34 percent – than those convicted of weapons or public order violations.
“Some people on supervision are at a high risk of recidivism and do need help, but that’s not everyone in our system,” said Thomas H. Cohen, an AO researcher who conducted the study. “The majority of them skew low risk. They should be monitored for some time, but if they demonstrate they are unlikely to commit a new crime, why not consider them for early release?”
Robert Gumm was one of those low-risk people on supervision after serving nearly seven years in prison. His eyes welled with tears when his U.S. probation officer called him with the news that he had been approved for early release from supervision. For the first time in over a decade, Gumm was a free man and he was determined to right wrongs and rebuild trust within his community.
“Nick, my probation officer, took a chance on me, and I’ve not let him down and I won’t let him down. But I also won’t let myself or my family down,” said Gumm, who now owns and operates a concrete business in Somerset, Kentucky. “The fact that he trusted in me meant everything to me.”
Gumm had been convicted of the illegal sale of the prescription drug oxycodone and served his time in a federal prison in Kentucky. Today, he is striving to be a positive force in his community. Gumm started a bass fishing team for junior and high school students and organized a fishing tournament for adults, which raised over $50,000 for Kentucky flood victims.