New South Wales (Australia) Changes Could Reduce Reoffending for Low-Risk Criminals

The parole changes are a clever way of addressing this problem. Under the current system, parole breaches are reviewed by the State Parole Authority, a time-consuming process. The reformed system will empower Community Corrections Officers to punish minor parole breaches quickly by imposing new conditions or taking away privileges. A series of breaches will lead to escalating punishments.
This change is informed by evidence from overseas. In the US, many states have adopted “swift, certain, and fair” punishments for parole and probation breaches. The idea is a response to the reluctance of some case officers to punish breaches if the only available punishment is imprisonment. Many case officers were looking the other way at minor breaches, like missed appointments, rather than sending offenders to prison. Without consequences, or with only the vague threat of revocation hanging over them, offenders had no incentive to change their behaviour.

Factsheet at justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Reforms/parole-factsheet.pdf