The Continuing Leverage of Releasing Authorities: Findings from a National Survey

The Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice launched a national survey of releasing authorities in March 2015 to each state, and the U.S. Parole Commission. The importance of the survey was underscored by an endorsement from the Association of Paroling Authorities International (APAI). We are pleased to present the results from this important survey here. This is the first comprehensive survey of parole boards completed in nearly ten years. Its findings provide a rich database for better understanding the policy and practice of paroling authorities. The last survey to be conducted of paroling authorities was in 2007 - 2008. The current report offers an expansion and update of previous surveys. The results summarized throughout the report offer a timely resource for paroling authorities, correctional policy-makers and practitioners, legislators, and those with a public policy interest in sentencing and criminal justice operations. It is our hope that the document and its findings provide key justice system and other stakeholders with an incisive snapshot of the work of paroling authorities across the country in a manner that contributes to a larger conversation about sound and effective parole release and revocation practices.

The completion of this comprehensive survey and the reporting of its findings offer a timely and invaluable resource for releasing authorities. It provides them and other key justice system stakeholders with a comparative understanding of their colleagues’ work across the nation and contributes to a larger conversation pertaining to effective parole release and revocation practices.

08.22.16

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Suggested Citation: Ebony L. Ruhland, Edward E. Rhine, Jason P. Robey, and Kelly Lyn Mitchell, The Continuing Leverage of Releasing Authorities: Findings from a National Survey, Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice (2016).

Executive Summary

The Continuing Leverage of Releasing Authorities: Findings from a National Survey: Executive Summary

11.01.16

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This executive summary includes salient findings from the national survey report and focuses on the jurisdiction and reach of releasing authorities, the sentencing structures in which they are found, their organizational features, their nexus to post-release supervision, and release and revocation practices. It also encapsulates the views of releasing authority chairs on the challenges they face. The intent of this executive summary is to provide a brief snapshot within and across these key areas of interest.

Releasing Authority Chairs: A Comparative Snapshot Across Three Decades

05.22.17

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This report provides a comparative analysis of releasing authority chairs' views of the issues and challenges confronting them at two points in time: 1988 and 2015. Drawing from two surveys, one conducted during the tenure of an ACA Parole Task Force that functioned from 1986-1988, along with The Continuing Leverage of Releasing Authorities: Findings from a National Survey included above, this publication highlights both change and constancy relative to a wide range of comparative markers including, but not limited to, structured decision tools, prison crowding, and risk aversion, and the myriad factors considered in granting or denying parole.

Suggested citation: Kaleena J. Burkes, Edward E. Rhine, Jason P. Robey, and Ebony L. Ruhland, Robina Institute of Criminal Law & Criminal Justice, Releasing Authority Chairs: A Comparative Snapshot Across Three Decades (2017).