Radio Recap: Up for Parole

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are about to sit in judgment on another human being's freedom, to decide whether he or she shall become your neighbor, your employee, perhaps your friend, or remain where you, society, have put him behind prison bars; for that human being is a social offender, a criminal now... Up for Parole

Up for Parole was a CBS program that ran from March 10 to December 8, 1950. This was another series based on true crimes that attempted to find a different angle for dramatizing these stories. What made Up for Parole different is that each episode was set before a parole board as they interrogated a criminal whose parole had come up. The criminal would start to narrate the circumstances which led him to be arrested, leading to the drama of that week's episode. Throughout, the parole board would interject whenever the narrating criminal seemed to overlook or omit something from his backstory. At the end of the half-hour, the parole board would determine whether or not parole would be granted.

One of the tensions of the show is whether the man facing the parole board is speaking the truth. Sometimes he turns out to be an unrepentant criminal who lies about certain facts-- which the parole board will then use to discredit him at the end. But in the majority of available episodes, the people up for parole are genuinely contrite and the board shows mercy upon them.

Up for Parole is pretty good - CBS dramas usually are. One episode in particular, "Clinton Foster" (September 1, 1950) is a very compelling drama about a hard-luck young man who foolishly tries to rob the bank in his home town. The music in that episode is particularly good.

The series apparently ran for 39 episode, yet strangely we only have 10 surviving examples; usually CBS programs are much better-preserved than this. Perhaps more will turn up.

There's a collection of Up for Parole episodes at the Internet Archive.