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Parole Boards and Hearings
Parole boards are governing bodies whose members are appointed officials. Their main job is to determine when an offender or inmate is eligible for release and, when that time comes, to determine if he or she is fit to return to society. Once that offender is in society, the board sets his or her conditions of parole, the conditions that must be met in order to stay in the community. If these conditions are not met, it is the board's job to revoke the offender's parole rights and sanction the offender by returning him or her to prison or some alternative program. If the conditions are met, it is the board's job to release the offender from parole when the appropriate time comes.
The decision to return an offender to the community must be based on certain criteria, including the type of crime committed, the offender's prior criminal history, and the parole prognosis. The prognosis is the determination of how well the offender will do while on parole in the community—that is, whether he or she will succeed or fail. The methods for determining whether an offender is fit for parole have changed recently; less discretion is given to parole boards and more emphasis is placed on using guidelines.
Parole boards play a significant role in community corrections, especially in regard to regulating the offender. They have control over all of the major aspects of when the offender reenters the community: the date of return, the conditions that must be followed in the community, the length of time on parole, the date of release from supervision, and the punishment if the parolee violates the conditions of parole. Although parole boards are being used less frequently—17 states and the federal government have limited their usage—all the states still use parole boards or chairs to govern the release of prisoners, and this will continue to be the trend for the foreseeable future.
The Parole Board
Parole is a method of releasing offenders from prison prior to the completion of their sentence. It is similar to probation but generally severer. Offenders eligible for parole must be granted release by a parole board. Parole board members have two main areas of responsibility: first, general policy making, which includes interpreting parole to the public, creating good parole legislation, and formulating statutes and policies on matters related to the work of the parole board, and second, managing and making decisions regarding individual cases. The latter responsibilities can include reviewing cases, fixing eligibility dates, granting and revoking paroles, removing offenders from parole supervision, and determining the conditions of parole.
In the majority of states, members of parole boards are appointed by the governor and generally serve terms of six or fewer years. It is not unusual to have new board members appointed when a new governor takes office. This has resulted in appointments based on political affiliations rather than necessary qualifications. To avoid this, some states have adopted civil service or merit systems for parole board appointments.
Most states do not require specific qualifications or credentials to serve on parole boards. However, the American Correctional Association suggests that a prospective parole board member should have the following qualifications: He or she should not be a political official, should maintain good character, should have academic training in corrections or a related field in criminal justice or criminology, and should be able to relate to offenders and their problems. Parole boards range from three to 19 members, with the national average being seven parole board members. Being selected for a parole board is not as attractive as many other political appointments that a governor may make.
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- Actuarial Risk Assessment
- Classification Systems
- COMPASS Program
- Firearms Charges, Offenders With
- Hare Psychopathy Checklist
- Level of Service Inventory
- Offender Needs
- Offender Responsivity
- Offender Risks
- Prediction Instruments
- Predispositional Reports for Juveniles
- Risk and Needs Assessment Instruments
- Risk Assessment Instruments: Three Generations
- Wisconsin Risk Assessment Instrument
- Absconding
- Augustus, John
- Benefit of Clergy
- Boston's Operation Night Light
- Case Management
- Caseload and Workload Standards
- Circle Sentencing
- Conditional Sentencing and Release
- Conditions of Community Corrections
- Continuum of Sanctions
- Crime Control Model of Corrections
- Curfews
- Diversion Programs
- Drug Courts
- Faith-Based Initiatives
- False Negatives and False Positives
- Family Courts
- Family Group Conferencing
- Family Therapy
- Felony Probation
- Field Visits
- Investigative Reports
- Juvenile Probation Officers
- Manhattan Bail Project
- Mediation
- Mental Health Courts
- Neighborhood Probation
- Offender Supervision
- Pre-Sentence Investigation Reports
- Pretrial Detention
- Pretrial Supervision
- Probation
- Probation: Administration Models
- Probation: Early Termination
- Probation: Organization of Services
- Probation: Private
- Probation and Judicial Reprieve
- Probation and Parole: Intensive Supervision
- Probation and Parole Fees
- Probation Mentor Home Program
- Probation Officers
- Probation Officers: Job Stress
- Project Safeway
- Recognizance
- Reparation Boards
- Restorative Justice
- Revocation
- Sanctuary
- Shock Probation
- SMART Partnership
- Specialized Caseload Models
- Teen Courts
- Victim-Offender Reconciliation Programs
- Wilderness Experience
- Attitudes and Myths about Punishment
- Attitudes of Offenders toward Community Corrections
- Bail Reform Act of 1984
- Banishment
- Beccaria, Cesare
- Bentham, Jeremy
- Certified Criminal Justice Professional
- Civil and Political Rights Affected by Conviction
- Community Corrections Acts
- Community Corrections and Sanctions
- Community Corrections as an Add-on to Imprisonment
- Community Corrections as an Alternative to Imprisonment
- Community Partnerships
- Cook County Juvenile Court
- Costs of Community Corrections
- Determinate Sentencing
- Employment-Related Rights of Offenders
- Ethics of Community-Based Sanctions
- Flat Time
- Front-End and Back-End Programming
- Goals and Objectives of Community Corrections
- History of Community Corrections
- Humanitarianism
- Indeterminate Sentencing
- Law Enforcement Administration Act Initiatives
- Long-Term Offender Designation
- Loss of Capacity to Be Bonded
- Loss of Individual Rights
- Loss of Parental Rights
- Loss of Right to Possess Firearms
- Loss of Welfare Benefits
- Net Widening
- Philosophy of Community Corrections
- Political Determinants of Corrections Policy
- President's Task Force on Corrections
- Prison Overcrowding
- Public Opinion of Community Corrections
- Public Safety and Collaborative Prevention
- Punishment
- Punishment Units
- Reducing Prison Populations
- Reintegration into Communities
- Second Chance Act
- Sentencing Guidelines
- Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative
- Split Sentencing and Blended Sentencing
- Temperance Movement
- Three Strikes and You're Out
- Victims of Crime Act of 1984
- Violent Offender Reconciliation Programs
- Volunteers and Community Corrections
- Boot Camps
- Community Service Order
- Community-Based Centers
- Community-Based Vocational Networks
- Day Reporting Centers
- Electronic Monitoring
- Financial Penalties
- Fine Options Programs
- GPS Tracking
- Group Homes
- Halfway Houses and Residential Centers
- Home Confinement and House Arrest
- NIMBY Syndrome
- Probation and Parole: Intensive Supervision
- Residential Correctional Programs
- Residential Programs for Juveniles
- Restitution
- Restitution Centers
- Absconding
- Brockway, Zebulon
- Discretionary Release
- Elmira System
- Firearms and Community Corrections Personnel
- Furloughs
- Good Time and Merit Time
- Graduated Sanctions for Juvenile Offenders
- Irish Marks System
- Maconochie, Alexander
- Pardon and Restoration of Rights
- Parole
- Parole Boards and Hearings
- Parole Commission, U.S.
- Parole Commission Phaseout Act of 1996
- Parole Guidelines Score
- Parole Officers
- Pre-Parole Plan
- Prisoner's Family and Reentry
- Probation and Parole: Intensive Supervision
- Reentry Courts
- Reentry Programs and Initiatives
- Salient Factor Score
- Truth-in-Sentencing Provisions
- Victim Impact Statements
- Work/Study Release Programs
- Addiction-Specific Support Groups
- Correctional Case Managers
- Counseling
- Crime Victims' Concerns
- Cultural Competence
- Disabled Offenders
- Diversity in Community Corrections
- Drug- and Alcohol-Abusing Offenders and Treatment
- Drug Testing in Community Corrections
- Effectiveness of Community Corrections
- Elderly Offenders
- Environmental Crime Prevention
- Evaluation of Programs
- Female Offenders and Special Needs
- Job Satisfaction in Community Corrections
- Juvenile Aftercare
- Juvenile and Youth Offenders
- Liability
- Martinson, Robert
- Motivational Interviewing
- Offenders with Mental Illness
- Public Shaming as Punishment
- Recidivism
- Sex Offender Registration
- Sex Offenders in the Community
- Sexual and Gender Minorities and Special Needs
- Sexual Predators: Civil Commitment
- Therapeutic Communities
- Therapeutic Jurisprudence
- Thinking for a Change
- Victim Services
- “What Works” Approach and Evidence-Based Practices
- Women in Community Service Program
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