Author: Steve Hayes, Director of Communications, State Board of Pardons and Paroles
The five-member Parole Board reviews a comprehensive electronic case file on each parole eligible offender prior
to making a decision regarding possible parole. Included in the file is information regarding the crime victim.
Victim information is always considered prior to the Board making a parole decision. The information in the file
will possibly include victim impact statements and victim correspondence informing the Board about crime, the
victim or victims and possibly the victim’s feelings about parole for the offender.
Because the board members believe the crime victim has a role in the parole decision making process, since
2006, the members have been meeting in person with crime victims. The meetings are part of “Victim Visitors’
Days” facilitated by the Georgia Office of Victim Services about twice a year. The Georgia Office of Victim Ser-
vices is a division of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles and represents registered crime victims.
At these events, all five board members routinely attend and individually meet to hear firsthand from a crime
victim. These individual meetings include the clemency staff of the Parole Board and personnel from the Geor-
gia Office of Victim Services. Hundreds of crime victims attend resulting in meetings being conducted through-
out the day. Most meetings may last more than a half hour and many up to an hour or longer. The Board does
not cut them short. All information from these meetings is then included in the case file regarding the parole
eligible offender and is available to the board members at the next parole consideration.
These events are held across Georgia and are not confined to Atlanta where the Board is located. The members
want to be as accessible as possible to victims. The Parole Board and victim services have relocated to more
than 20 communities in Georgia holding more than 30 of these events in the past fourteen years. From Savannah
to Columbus to Augusta to Dalton, more than 4,000 victims and family members of victims (also considered vic-
tims) have met in person with the Parole Board. In exit surveys, routinely, nearly 100% of crime victims have
graded their Victim Visitors’ Day experience as above average or excellent.
The Board is committed to ensuring the crime victim is informed. As Chairman Terry Barnard has stated,
“Any crime victim wishing to meet with the Parole Board will have that opportunity.”
www.gachiefs.com • Page 8 • 1st Quarter Newsletter