Emily Babay reports at the Examiner that counter to national trends, the probation and parole populations in D.C. are rising:

The District’s total community supervision population rose from 13,600 on Jan. 1, 2010, to 14,800 at the year’s end — an 8.8 percent increase, the second-largest in the country — according to Bureau of Justice Statistics data released Monday. The probation population rose 12.6 percent, and the parole population increased 3 percent during the year.

The number of people under community supervision dropped 6.3 percent in Maryland, 2 percent in Virginia and 1.3 percent nationwide, according to the BJS data.

While the reasons for this aren’t 100 percent clear, it’s more than likely that crack sentencing has something to do with it. As we reported before, 139 inmates with crack cocaine convictions from D.C. were eligible to apply for reduced sentences under the Fair Sentencing Act earlier this month. And plenty of people, having served their mandatory minimums, are also coming up eligible for release.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery