NCJ Number
139432
Journal
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 18 Issue: 1/2 Dated: (1992) Pages: 135-157
Date Published
1992
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article presents a way to integrate various conceptions of parole according to the broader sentencing framework within which parole board members operate.
Abstract
In the current era of judicial decisionmaking guidelines and determinate sentencing systems, the future prospects for parole at Federal and State levels are increasingly unclear. The U.S. Supreme Court, in Greenholtz v. North Carolina (1979) and Board of Pardons v. Allen (1987), has offered a view of parole decisionmaking that emphasizes parole board members' projections concerning the societal risk posed by parolees. Several empirical research studies, however, have documented the importance of offense severity evaluations and other retributive judgments that are often negatively correlated with risk assessment. Divergent perspectives between research criminologists and Supreme Court justices suggest several specific avenues of collaborative research through which lawyers and social scientists may profitably pool their expertise. Research studies demonstrate that parole board members approach their task in ways that can be measured accurately using routine social scientific variables and methodologies. It is also clear, however, that parole decision orientations are not uniform across States or even during different time periods within the same State. Parole board members in indeterminate sentencing systems may be especially sensitive to the possibility of exacerbating sentencing disparities. This would incline them toward retributive evaluations as well as risk assessments, to help equalize the amount of time served by those with similar present offenses and prior criminal histories. Parole board members in more determinate systems have been found to concentrate mainly on risk assessment criteria, since the sentencing structure helps to equalize the relative amount of time already served. In the future, more effort should be devoted to studying parole decision processes within the sentencing system context. Social scientists should develop a feedback loop that includes lawyers, judges, legislators, and others involved in parole. Social scientists and legal professionals should work together to design and test alternative models that more closely adhere to and advance society's retributive and rehabilitative interests. 53 references and 11 notes