To practice law, become a judge, or become a police officer, a person must have specific qualifications that include education, testing and, often, some form of evaluation by the state and/or an educational institution.
It makes sense that these professionals should go through significant training and screening to be considered eligible to do their jobs. You might assume that all major players in our criminal justice system must go through a similar process before they are deemed qualified. But that is not always the case.
Parole boards around the country, which operate on the state level, don’t always have clearly defined standards for their members, unlike many other professions in the criminal justice system. Parole board members are appointed by the governor of the state they serve, but many states don’t go into much more detail than that.
The Job of the Parole Board
Parole boards essentially decide the fate of inmates. They decide who stays in prison and who is put back out on the street, yet most states don’t require that board members have any background in criminal justice. To make their decisions, parole board members look at several different factors when evaluating an inmate, including criminal history, risk assessment tools that determine how likely a person is to commit another crime and the answers of the inmate during the review or hearing. Ultimately, however, board members rely on their own discretion to make the final ruling on the future of an inmate.
Some states have more sophisticated systems set in place to help board members to make better decisions. Pennsylvania, for example, has several researchers on staff to help board members craft risk assessment tools to inform their rulings. Other states, even when they do rely on these tools, don’t always pass the important criteria they use on to the prisoners, as is the case in Utah, which often keeps inmates in the dark regarding how they come to their final decisions, according to Governing. This makes it difficult for inmates to know what they should be doing to earn a favorable decision from their parole board.
Governors Play a Key Role in Filling a Parole Board
Sometimes it’s not the process as much as it is the appointments that make critics concerned over the effectiveness of parole boards. For example, in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie drew fire for his appointment of a board member, due to the appointee’s lack of qualifications. New Jersey’s Courier-Post called the state’s parole board “a longtime dumping ground for political hacks.”
In Kentucky, just like in other states, board members are appointed by the governor. There are currently nine members on the parole board, most of whom have backgrounds in the law or in the criminal justice system. Members on Kentucky’s parole board include a former chief of police, a former state probation and parole official and a former senior staff attorney for the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Parole boards walk a thin line between giving people second chances in life and making sure the public is safe from dangerous convicts. It’s not an easy job, and it’s certainly not a responsibility that should be taken lightly. While Kentucky has several qualified board members, there’s not necessarily a system set in place that guarantees future members will be qualified to meet the requirements of the job. Currently, we rely on the discretion of our lawmakers to determine who holds the fate of inmates in their hands. It’s worth asking if that is the most effective way to approach our criminal justice system.
If you (or a loved one) have been arrested in Kentucky or in the Lexington area in particular, call my office at (859) 685-1055 for a free consultation. Our lawyers specialize in helping defendants fight back on assault charges, misdemeanors, domestic violence, property crimes, drug charges and more, call today.