Total Adult Community Supervision Population in the US

"From yearend 2011 to yearend 2021, the total adult community supervision population fell 22%, from 4,818,300 to 3,745,000 (table 1). Most of this decrease was due to a decline of 25% (1 million) in the number of adults on probation. The community supervision population has declined each year since 2007 and, at yearend 2021, was at its lowest level since 1994.²

"The probation population declined for the fourteenth consecutive year in 2021, falling below 3 million for the first time since 1994. Between 2011 and 2019, the U.S. parole population remained relatively stable, then decreased 8.6% from yearend 2019 to yearend 2021.

"The probation population had an annual decrease of 2.3% in 2021, about a quarter of the 8.3% annual decline observed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 (figure 2). In 2021, the parole population had its largest recorded annual decrease (down 7.1%) since 1980, when BJS started collecting probation and parole information on a yearly basis (figure 3)."