How does the Parole Board make its decisions?

What is the role of the Parole Board?

The Parole Board is an independent body that works with its criminal justice partners to protect the public by risk assessing prisoners to decide whether they can be safely released into the community.

The Parole Board does not decide on what sentence a prisoner receives and does not revisit court decisions. In making its decisions the Parole Board must, by law, accept that the prisoner is guilty of the offence for which they have been convicted.

Which cases does the Parole Board consider?

The Parole Board considers the release of offenders serving:

• A life sentence
• An indeterminate sentence for public protection(for offenders convicted of a sexual or violent offence with a maximum sentence of ten years or more)
• An extended sentence for public protection (for offenders convicted of a violent or sexual offence with a maximum sentence of less than ten years)
• A fixed sentence of 4 years and over for an offence committed before 4 April 2005

The Parole Board will also consider cases where an offender who has previously been released on licence and has been recalled to prison.  The Parole Board considers whether recall was appropriate and whether the offender should be released again. For life sentence and indeterminate sentence for public protection prisoners, the Parole Board will also consider whether to recommend the transfer of the offender to an open prison before they are released.

What information does the Parole Board use to make decisions?

The Parole Board considers a range of information relating to the risk an offender could pose to the public if re-released and the likelihood of the offender committing further offences.  This includes information about:

• The offence and the impact on the victim, which may include the trial judges sentencing remarks, a victim impact statement at the trial or a victim personal statement if submitted, or a report from the victim liaison officer
• The offender's previous offences
• Behaviour in prison
• Interventions that have taken place to analyse and address areas of risk and resulting reports on the effect of these interventions
• Reports from professionals such as psychologists and probation staff relating to reduction, or non-reduction of risk
  

The Parole Board for England and Wales

Grenadier House, 99-105 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 2DX

Telephone 0845 251 2220