Although jails and prisons now hold nearly two million people, more than 3.7 million adults were under supervision of probation officers last year. About 40 percent of all felony probationers are rearrested for fresh felonies within three years of being placed under community supervision.
Experts report that few attempts are made to locate absconders.
One recent study found that in 1998 fewer than one in 20 people who worked for probation agencies ever actually spent time supervising felony probationers on the street. In many cities, adult probation caseloads have soared to more than 500 per officer.