Parole board

A parole board is a panel of people who decide whether an offender should be released from prison on parole after serving at least a minimum portion of their sentence as prescribed by the sentencing judge. Parole boards are used in many jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and the United States. A related concept is the board of pardons and paroles, which may deal with pardons and commutations as well as paroles.

A parole board consists of people qualified to make judgements about the suitability of a prisoner for return to free society. Members may be judges, psychiatrists, or criminologists. Many states do not have written qualifications for parole board members and will allow community members to serve in that capacity. Some states require all members to possess a 4 year degree, while others do not. Each state has a different requirement for parole board appointment. The universal requirement is that the candidate for membership has to be of good moral fiber.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom members are also drawn from a wider circle of professions. The Board typically makes a judgement about whether a prisoner will affect public safety if released, but does not form an opinion about whether the initial sentencing was appropriate. They are Non-Departmental Public Bodies

United States

There are 52 parole boards in operation in the United States.

On the federal level and in the District of Columbia, there is no longer parole. The United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines (enacted in 1987) discontinued parole for those convicted of federal crimes for offenses committed after November 1, 1987. This truth in sentencing legislation required federal prisoners to serve 85 percent of their sentences. The United States Parole Commission remains the parole board for those who committed a federal offense before November 1, 1987, as well as those who committed a D.C. Code offense before August 5, 2000, a Uniform Code of Military Justice offense and are parole-eligible, and persons who are serving prison terms imposed by foreign countries and have been transferred to the United States to serve their sentence.

Every U.S. state also has a parole board. The autonomy of the board from the state governor also varies; in some states the boards are more powerful than in others. In some states the board is an independent agency while in others it is a body of the department of corrections. Determinate sentencing has also severely reduced the power of many parole boards. Often, consideration of the opinion of the victim or victims or their family is taken into account in the board's final determination (see victims' rights).

*Alabama: Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles [http://www.pardons.state.al.us/]
*Alaska: Alaska Board of Parole [http://www.correct.state.ak.us/corrections/Parole/]
*Arizona: Arizona Board of Executive Clemency [http://azboec.gov/]
*Arkansas: Arkansas Board of Parole [http://www.arbop.org/]
*California: California Board of Parole Hearings [http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/DivisionsBoards/BOPH/index.html]
*Colorado: Colorado Board of Parole [https://exdoc.state.co.us/secure/combo/weblets/index.php/paroles]
*Connecticut: Connecticut Board of Pardons and Paroles [http://www.ct.gov/doc/cwp/view.asp?a=1520&q=284830&docNav=|40574|]
*Delaware: Delaware Board of Parole [http://www.state.de.us/parole/default.shtml]
*Florida: Florida Parole Commission [https://fpc.state.fl.us/]
*Georgia: Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles [http://www.pap.state.ga.us/opencms/opencms/]
*Hawaii: Hawaii Paroling Authority [http://www.hawaii.gov/psd/hpa.php]
*Idaho: Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole [http://www2.state.id.us/parole/]
*Illinois: Illinois Department of Corrections Parole Division [http://www.idoc.state.il.us/subsections/departments/parole_division/]
*Indiana: Indiana Parole Board [http://www.in.gov/indcorrection/paroleboard.htm]
*Iowa: Iowa Board of Parole [http://www.bop.state.ia.us/]
*Kansas: Kansas Parole Board [http://www.dc.state.ks.us/kpb]
*Kentucky: Kentucky Parole Board [http://justice.ky.gov/parolebd/]
*Louisiana: separate Louisiana Board of Pardons [http://www.corrections.state.la.us/Offices/Pardon/boardofpardons.htm] and Louisiana Board of Parole [http://www.corrections.state.la.us/Offices/paroleboard/parolebrd_main.htm]
*Maine: Maine Parole Board [www.maine.gov/sos/cec/rules/03/208/208c001.doc]
*Maryland: Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Division of Parole and Probation [http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/victimservs/vs_dpp.shtml]
*Massachusetts: Massachusetts Parole Board [http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eopsagencylanding&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Public+Safety+Agencies&L2=Massachusetts+Parole+Board&sid=Eeops]
*Michigan: Michigan Parole Board [http://www.michigan.gov/corrections/0,1607,7-119-1435---,00.html]
*Minnesota: Minnesota Board of Pardons [http://www.corr.state.mn.us/org/communityserv/policy.htm#data]
*Mississippi: Mississippi Parole Board [http://www.mpb.state.ms.us/]
*Missouri: Missouri Department of Corrections, Division of Probation and Parole [http://www.doc.mo.gov/division/prob/prob.htm]
*Montana: Montana Board of Pardons and Parole [http://www.mt.gov/bopp/]
*Nebraska: Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, Adult Parole Administration [http://www.corrections.state.ne.us/programs/adult_parole/index.html]
*Nevada: Nevada Department of Public Safety, Division of Parole and Probation [http://dps.nv.gov/npp/index.shtml]
*New Hampshire: New Hampshire Adult Parole Board [http://www.nh.gov/nhdoc/divisions/parole/index.html]
*New Jersey: New Jersey State Parole Board [http://www.state.nj.us/parole/]
*New Mexico: New Mexico Parole Board [http://corrections.state.nm.us/parole/paroleboard.html]
*New York: New York State Division of Parole [http://parole.state.ny.us/]
*North Carolina: North Carolina Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission [http://www.doc.state.nc.us/parole/]
*North Dakota: North Dakota Parole Board [http://governor.nd.gov/boards/boards-query.asp?Board_ID=78]
*Ohio: Ohio Parole Board [http://www.drc.state.oh.us/WEB/parboard.htm]
*Oklahoma: Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board [http://www.ppb.state.ok.us/]
*Oregon: Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision [http://www.oregon.gov/BOPPPS/]
*Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole [http://www.pbpp.state.pa.us/pbpp/site/default.asp]
*Rhode Island: Rhode Island Parole Board [http://www.paroleboard.ri.gov/]
*South Carolina: South Carolina Board of Paroles and Pardons [http://www.dppps.sc.gov/stateboard.html]
*South Dakota: South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles [http://www.state.sd.us/CORRECTIONS/parole.htm]
*Tennessee: Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole [http://www2.state.tn.us/bopp/home.htm]
*Texas: Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles [http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/bpp/]
*Utah: Utah Board of Pardons and Parole [http://bop.utah.gov/]
*Vermont: Vermont Parole Board [http://www.doc.state.vt.us/about/parole-board/]
*Virginia: Virginia Parole Board [http://www.vadoc.state.va.us/vpb/default.shtm]
*Washington: Washington State Indeterminate Sentence Review Board [http://www.srb.wa.gov/Default.htm]
*West Virginia: West Virginia Parole Board [http://www.wvf.state.wv.us/wvparoleboard/]
*Wisconsin: Wisconsin Parole Commission [http://www.wi-doc.com/Parole_Commission.htm]
*Wyoming: Wyoming Board of Parole [http://bop.state.wy.us/]

External links

* [http://www.paroleboard.gov.uk/ The Parole Board for England and Wales]