A new data brief from the Robina Institute, “American Exceptionalism in Probation Supervision,” concludes that “the average probation supervision rate for all fifty states is more than five times the average rate for all European countries.” 

In some states, like Ohio, Rhode Island, Idaho, and Indiana, the rate is eight or nine times the European average, "despite the fact that many countries in Europe have overall crime rates that are quite similar to the U.S." From Robina Institute:

America suffers from “mass probation” in addition to “mass incarceration.” Although probation has often been thought of as an “alternative” to prison or jail sentences, the U.S. has achieved exceptional levels of punitiveness in both incarceration and community supervision. […]

If some uses of probation are counterproductive to the reentry process, or outright “criminogenic,” it should be a high priority everywhere to discontinue them. The financial expense and opportunity costs of “mass probation” should also be assessed nationwide. High probation supervision rates cost American taxpayers a great deal of money, and not just in the funding of probation agencies. National data suggest that a large share of all prison admissions come from probation revocations—a substantial number of which are for “technical” violations of sentence conditions rather than new criminal conduct. Far from being an “alternative” to incarceration, probation has been a “feeder” institution or a “conduit” to our prisons and jails. In this respect, misguided probation policy has almost certainly been a major contributor to America’s excesses in prison policy. The problems of mass incarceration and mass probation are intimately linked, and they must be tackled together.

The probation and parole problem is a serious one that I will tackle it next week more extensively.