IPPP faculty fellow Dr. Shannon Fyfe is a coauthor on a piece appearing in The DC Line concerning issues related to how those that go up for parole in District of Columbia are finding themselves in trouble with a lack of local control over parole.
In terms of the stakes of the issue, Dr. Fyfe and her coauthor Anthony Petty urged the Mayor's office to urgently act because people's lives are at stake:
"Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration keeps putting off the transition, claiming in March that, in order not to be “rushed,” they needed another year before they could take back local control over parole. Last month, the mayor told Congress it would be at least two more years before DC would be prepared. The administration’s concern with taking back control over parole in a sustainable way is laudable. But officials in the executive branch do not seem to understand that this situation is about more than statehood or the optics of having officials from Kentucky and Maryland determine parole fates...Yes, Mayor Bowser, we are talking about DC residents’ literal lives, and you need to prioritize them by taking steps to retake parole authority now."