March 1, 2007 |
2007-R-0245 | |
QUESTIONS FOR NOMINEE FOR BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLES CHAIRMAN | ||
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By: Christopher Reinhart, Senior Attorney | ||
BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLES
• The Board of Pardons and Paroles has independent decision-making authority to (1) grant or deny parole or special parole, (2) set parole and special parole supervision conditions, (3) rescind or revoke parole or special parole, and (4) grant releases and commute punishments including the death penalty (commutations reduce the punishment to a lesser one).
• The board consists of 13 members appointed by the governor with the consent of either house of the General Assembly. Members serve for the length of the governor's term.
• The board chairman can sit on both pardons and parole release panels. He assigns seven members exclusively to parole release hearings and five to pardons hearings. Except for the chairman, no member assigned to one type of hearing can later be assigned to the other.
• The chairman or his designee and two members must conduct all parole hearings and approve or deny all parole release, revocation, or rescission recommendations from a board employee. Pardons panels consist of three members. The chairman must be on the panel for hearings on commutation of the death penalty and can be on other panels.
• The chairman is executive and administrative head of the board.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. By law, the chairman must be qualified by education, experience, and training in administering community corrections, parole, or pardons. Describe your background and what qualifies you for this position?
2. Are there any circumstances under which you would find it necessary to recuse or disqualify yourself from a parole or pardon decision?
3. What is your philosophy toward imprisonment, parole, and pardons?
4. The chairman must adopt policies for all areas of pardons and paroles, including granting pardons, commutations, or releases including commutations of the death penalty; risk-based structured decision making; and release criteria. Do you plan any changes?
5. What would you consider to be the most important factors when deciding whether to grant parole or a pardon. How much consideration should be given to the statements of a victim or a victim's family? When should an inmate be given the benefit of the doubt?
PAROLE QUESTIONS
1. The Department of Correction (DOC) is responsible for supervising parolees. How closely should the board work with DOC in making its release decisions and in supervising parolees?
2. How do you predict a prisoner's potential for future dangerous behavior? Should this be part of a parole decision?
3. To what extent should the board impose conditions on a parolee's place of residence, employment, substance abuse treatment, or social activities? Should the board treat someone convicted of a sex offense differently?
4. What influence does publicity or other pressures, such as prison overcrowding, have on parole decisions?
5. The law requires a parole hearing to determine the suitability for parole release of inmates once they reach a specific point in their sentence beyond their parole eligibility date. What impact does this have on the board's workload? Does this result in more releases?
6. Recent legislation required developing a parole orientation program, a reentry strategy, an incremental sanctions system for parole violations, and a plan to reduce technical violations of parole conditions that lead to re-incarceration. How do you feel about these initiatives? Do you think they will help parolees remain out of prison?
7. How could a prisoner who is returned to prison for violating parole conditions demonstrate that he will not break parole rules again?
PARDONS QUESTIONS
1. The board can grant a pardon before any sentence is served. How long should someone serve before the board considers a pardon? Are there any cases in which a pardon should be granted before any portion of a sentence has been served?
2. Do you think that people convicted of violent crimes against children or sexual assault should be eligible for pardon?
3. Under what circumstances, if any, do you think the board should commute a death sentence? What factors might affect your decision?
4. Should the board consider commuting a death sentence even if the inmate does not apply for a commutation? Should others be allowed to apply on the inmate's behalf?
5. Administrative pardons allow people convicted of certain crimes to receive a pardon without a hearing, unless a victim requests one. This applies in limited circumstances. What do you think of this process? It applies to a limited class of people. Should it apply to more or fewer people?
6. PA 06-187 authorized the board to issue provisional pardons to relieve an offender of certain barriers or forfeitures to obtaining employment or an occupational license due to the conviction of the crime specified in the provisional pardon. The board can issue a provisional pardon if the relief may promote the public policy of rehabilitating ex-offenders through employment and is consistent with the public's interest in safety and protecting property. Employers cannot deny employment to a prospective employee or discharge or discriminate against an employee solely on the basis of a conviction that occurred before his employment for which the person received a provisional pardon. What do you think of this new provision? Do you think it will help offenders? What can be done to improve employment opportunities for ex-offenders?
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