Professor David Rudenstine was part of the Citizens’ Inquiry on Parole and Criminal Justice in 1975, who declared that New York’s parole system had “failed dramatically” and was “beyond reform.” The New Yorker's piece on contemporary parole recalls Rudenstine's statement in the inquiry's final report: "it is regrettable that the primary loyalty of public officials responsible for an important social system such as parole seems to be the maintenance of things as they are.”