Mass Probation

Probation, a court-ordered sanction for misdemeanor and felony-level offenses in which individuals are supervised in the community is the largest form of criminal justice supervision. At its peak in 2007, 1 in every 53 adults (and 1 in 12 Black men) were on probation. Yet this form of punishment is typically neglected in sociological research, understating the reach—and mischaracterizing the form—of penal control. In my research, I define mass probation and explain its causes and consequences.

Ongoing work in this area is under my Mass Probation & Health project.

ARTICLES

Phelps, Michelle S. and Eric Seligman.GS 2024. “Probation and the Shadow Carceral State: Legal Envisioning from Minnesota.” Theoretical Criminology 28(4): 476-494. (First Published Online July 26, 2024).

Phelps, Michelle S. 2024. “What Is Probation, Anyway? Reflections from a Decade of Research.” Federal Sentencing Reporter 36 (4): 177–180. [Invited Commentary] .

Shlafer, Rebecca J., Michelle S. Phelps, J’Mag Karbeah, and Alyssa Scott. 2023. “Parents on Probation: Custody, Co-residence, and Care of Minor Children During Community Supervision.” Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 62(7): 391-410.

Phelps, Michelle S., H.N. Dickens, and De Andre’ T. Beadle. 2023. “Are Supervision Violations Filling Prisons? The Role of Probation, Parole, and New Offenses in Driving Mass Incarceration.” Socius 9: 1–3.

Piehowski, Victoria and Michelle S. Phelps. 2023. “Strong-arm Sobriety: Addressing Precarity through Probation.” Law & Social Inquiry 48(2): 489-516.

Phelps, Michelle S., Ingie Osman, Chris E. Robertson, and Rebecca Shlafer. 2022. “Beyond ‘Pains’ and ‘Gains’: Untangling the Health Consequences of Probation.” Health & Justice 10, Article number 29.

Phelps, Michelle S. and Ebony L. Ruhland. 2022. “Governing Marginality: Coercion and Care in Probation.” Social Problems 69(3): 799–816.

Winkelman, Phelps, Mitchell, Jennings, and Shlafer. 2020. “Physical Health and Disability among Adults on Community Supervision in the United States.” Journal of Correctional Health Care 26(2): 129-137.

Phelps. 2020. “Mass Probation Across the U.S.: States’ Control Regimes from 1980 to 2016” in Criminal Justice Theory: Explanation and Effects, Cecilia Chouhy, Joshua C. Cochran, and Cheryl Lero Jonson (Eds.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Phelps, Michelle S. 2020. “Mass Probation from Micro to Macro: Tracing the Expansion and Consequences of Community Supervision.” Annual Review of Criminology 3: 261-279.

Phelps (2018). Ending Mass Probation: Sentencing, Supervision, and Revocation. Future of Children 28(1): 125-146.

Phelps (2018). Mass Probation and Inequality: Race, Class, and Gender Disparities in Supervision and Revocation. Handbook on Punishment Decisions: Locations of Disparity, ASC Division on Corrections & Sentencing.

Phelps (2018). Discourses of Mass Probation: From Managing Risk to Reforming Punishment in Michigan. British Journal of Criminology 58(5): 1107–1126.

Rubin & Phelps (2017). Fracturing the Penal State: State Actors and the Role of Conflict in Penal Change. Theoretical Criminology 21(4): 422-440.

Phelps & Curry (2017). Supervision in the Community: Probation and Parole. Oxford Research Encyclopedia.

Phelps (2017). Mass Probation: Toward a More Robust Theory of State Variation in Punishment. Punishment & Society 19(1): 53-73.

Phelps (2015). The Curious Disappearance of Sociological Research on Probation Supervision. Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Annual 7: 1-30.

Phelps (2013). The Paradox of Probation: Community Supervision in the Age of Mass Incarceration. Law & Policy 35(1-2): 51-80.

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