The Parole Board. Working with others to protect the public.
About the Parole Board
Assessing the risk a person represents to society is the single most important thing we do at the Parole Board. In making these assessments, we recognise the value of the scientific approach taken by trained and experienced psychologists. Their skills are absolutely indispensable to support, underpin and provide theoretical backup for the decisions we make.
Psychologist members must be an accredited British Psychological Society member. They can offer strong analytical and organisational skills, as well as the ability to interpret volumes of complex information and convey your arguments clearly and precisely.
As a forensic clinical psychologist on the Board I am able to put to good use my specialist knowledge of forensic risk assessment. This is a natural extension of my "day job" in the NHS in which I routinely contribute to multi-disciplinary decision making in a variety of contexts. I work with mentally disordered offenders within a secure mental hospital and, following their period of inpatient treatment, I help to provide community follow-up.
As a psychologist member of the Board the vast majority of my work involves life sentenced prisoners. I particularly enjoy attending oral hearings and following the developmental progression from the abstract information contained within the dossier through to the hearing itself which is brought alive by the presence of the inmate, his family and lawyers. In addition to panels, my other main commitment to the Board is to sit on the Review Committee. This meets at regular intervals to examine in detail and to highlight learning points in cases where an individual who has been released on parole goes on to commit a further serious offence.
Grenadier House, 99-105 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 2DX
Telephone 0845 251 2220