Georgia Parole Review Ga Parole Review Fall/Winter 2017/2018 | Page 15

Guidelines Risk Calculator Helps Public Predict Parole

Following implementation of the revised Parole Decision Guidelines Rating System last year, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles has included a public interface on the agency website. The public interface enables anyone to determine the predictability of parole for an offender.

Executive Director of Parole Chris Barnett says the new public interface will assist the public in better understanding Georgia’s scientific parole decision making process.

“By updating the Board’s Parole Decision Guidelines Rating System and making the process completely accessible through this new public interface we are bringing more transparency to the parole decision making process. The public by using the public interface will see just how predictable and transparent the process is,” stated Barnett.

Parole Decision Guidelines are key to scientific data driven and informed parole decisions.

When considering parole for statutorily eligible offenders who are serving less than a life sentence, the Board reviews a clemency recommendation of months, or a percentage of the sentence, to serve. This recommendation is obtained from the Parole Decision Guidelines Rating System, which is comprised of three components: Crime Severity Level, Risk to Reoffend and the Guidelines Grid.

Crime Severity Level is determined by the offender's conviction crime severity level as listed from the table of offenses (Crime Severity Levels chart for Post-2006 offenses). The higher the severity level of the offense, the more serious the Parole Board views the crime. Normally the Board considers the highest crime severity level offense for which an individual has been convicted as the controlling crime severity level. Sentence length may be a factor.

Risk to Reoffend refers to the statistically significant predictors of a new felony within three years of the prison release. For the first time, risk factors and their weights were identified separately for males and females. For all cases considered for parole on or after July 1, 2017, the new system will be used to compute an offender’s parole risk score (Current Risk to Reoffend Score Chart).

In the new Guidelines Grid, the minimum midpoint recommendation for each Crime Severity Level represents one-third, or more, of the statewide

average prison sentence for all crimes assigned the said Crime Severity Level.

By cross referencing the offender's Crime Severity Level and Risk to Reoffend Score on the Guidelines Grid component of the Parole Decision Guidelines Rating System, the user is provided a months to serve or a percentage of the prison sentence to be served prior to release on parole. When the process is completed by actual parole clemency staff, the result is a recommendation regarding parole that is forwarded to the five Board Members.

NOTE: No guarantee can be made that the results obtained by the public will be the same as those obtained by Parole Hearing Examiners upon application of the Guidelines to the offender's case, as the results are a function of the data entered by the user, and the Parole Board may have access to data that is not otherwise available to the public due to confidential protections under federal or state law (e.g., criminal history record information). The use of different data may render different results.

The Board may accept or reject the recommendation from the Guidelines. The Board specifically reserves the right to exercise its discretion under Georgia Law to disagree with the recommendation resulting from application of the Parole Decision Guidelines Rating System and to make an independent decision to deny parole or to establish a Tentative Parole Month (TPM) at any time prior to sentence expiration. However, the Board’s confidence in the system is evident by its 82% (2016) compliance with the guidelines recommendation regarding parole for the offender.

The Board’s new Parole Decision Guidelines Rating System represents its best effort to protect the public from harm by maximizing the utility of the state’s prison system and ensuring that the most dangerous offenders are incarcerated for the longest period of time possible, given the State’s available resources.

The Board’s Guidelines were first developed in 1979 and codified in 1980 and have been updated several times since.

https://webapplications.pap.state.ga.us/guidelines-calculator/grs/home