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Guidelines provide board members objective criteria to supplement individual case assessment
in making parole decisions..
- Guidelines are discretionary but guidelines make parole decision-making criteria more
explicit and predictable to the public, the legislature, correctional officials and offenders.
- The use of guidelines can reduce disparity in sentencing decisions.
- Guidelines can provide stability in parole release policies over time that will assist in
making prison population projections more accurate.
Each year in Texas, the board reviews over 60,000 offenders for release on parole.
Using guidelines, the board can readily identify cases by risk level and avoid releasing
high-risk inmates too early or low-risk inmates too late while spending more time
evaluating the remaining cases where a decision is tougher to reach.
The parole guidelines consist of two major components that interact to provide a single score.
The first is a Risk Assessment Instrument that weighs both static and dynamic factors associated
with the inmate’s risk of recidivating. These factors classify offenders into categories of risk of
future recidivism. The other component is the Offense Severity class.
Static factors are those associated with the inmate’s prior criminal record that impact risk. They will not change over time. Dynamic factors reflect risk factors the inmate has demonstrated
since being incarcerated and can change over time.
Static risk factors include:.
- Age at first admission to a juvenile or adult correctional facility
- History of supervisory release revocations for felony offenses
- Prior incarcerations
- Employment History
- The commitment offense
- Assigned Risk Level - Points -
- Low Risk 0-5 13%
- Moderate Risk 6-8 22%
- High Risk 9-11 30%
- Highest Risk 12+ 38%
The other component of the guidelines is Offense Severity Class.
- Board members have assigned an offense severity rating to every one of the 1,931 felony
offenses in the Penal Code.
- Offense Severity classes range from Low for non-violent crimes such as credit card
abuse, to Highest for crimes such as capital murder.
- An inmate’s most serious active offense is assigned an Offense Severity Class according
to the established list.
After both factors have been considered, the two components are then merged into a matrix that creates the inmate’s parole guidelines score.
- The score is calculated based on the intersection of his risk level and the offense severity
rating.
- The guidelines are discretionary and the parole guidelines level is not presumptive as to
parole.
- Board members retain the discretion to vote outside the guidelines when the circumstances
of an individual case merit their doing so.
Remember: Early intervention in your case is often the key to success. We therefore represent clients at the pre-indictment as well as post-indictment stages
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