Home | Parole Plans| Support | FAQ | Links | Articles | Contact Us
 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Components of the Texas Parole Guidelines

The revised parole guidelines consist of two major components that interact to provide a single score.  The first is a Risk Assessment Instrument that weights both static and dynamic factors associated with the inmate’s record.  The other component is Offense Severityclass.

Risk Assessment Instrument

Static factors are those associated with the inmate’s prior criminal record.  They will not change over time.  Dynamic factors reflect characteristics the inmate has demonstrated since being incarcerated and are factors that can change over time.

Static 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


    Dynamic factors include:

  • Inmate’s current age
  • Whether the inmate is a confirmed security threat group (gang) member
  • Education, vocational and certified on-the-job training programs completed during  the present incarceration
  • Prison disciplinary conduct
  • Current prison custody level


    An inmate can be assigned 0-9 points on static factors and 0-12 points on dynamic factors.  A low score is associated with low risk.  The higher the score, the greater the risk the inmate presents for a successful parole:

    Offense Severity Class

    Parole Board members have assigned an offense severity rating to every one of the 1,931 felony charges in the Criminal Code.  Offense Severity classes range from Low for non-violent crimes such as credit card abuse, to Highest for capital murder.  An inmate’s most serious active offense is assigned an Offense Severity Class according to the Established list.

    THE PAROLE GUIDELINES SCORE



    After both of the above factors have been considered, the two components of the guidelines are then merged into a matrix that creates the inmate’s Parole Guidelines Score based on the intersection of his risk level and the offense severity rating.  Parole Guidelines Scores range from 1 for an individual with the poorest probability for success, up to 7 for an inmate with the greatest probability of success.
     

    Continue


     

    Duffey & Associates
    14601 Bellaire Blvd. Ste. 210
    Houston, Texas 77083
    Tel: 1 (281) 602-4097
    Fax: (713) 456-2265

 

 Disclaimer