Who to Release?

This book explores the changing role of the UK Parole Board across the range of its responsibilities, including the prediction of risk and deciding on the release or continued detention of the growing number of recalled prisoners and of those subject to indeterminate sentences. In doing so, the book rectifies the lack of attention that has been given by lawyers, academics, and practitioners to 'back door sentencing, ' where the real length of a sentence is decided by those who take the decision to release, compared to 'front door sentencing, ' where decisions are taken by judges or magistrates in court. The book gives particular attention to the important changes made to the role and working of the Parole Board as a result of the impact of the early release scheme of the UK Criminal Justice Act 2005, with the Parole Board now making decisions in Panels concerned with determinate sentence prisoners, lifers, and recalled prisoners. A wide range of significant issues, and case law,

This book is concerned to explore the changing role of the Parole Board across the range of its responsibilities, including the prediction of risk and deciding on the release (or continued detention) of the growing number of recalled prisoners and of those subject to indeterminate sentences. In doing so it aims to rectify the lack of attention that has been given by lawyers, academics and practitioners to back door sentencing (where the real length of a sentence is decided by those who take the decision to release) compared to front door sentencing' (decisions taken by judges or magistrates in court). Particular attention is given in this book to the important changes made to the role and working of the Parole Board as a result of the impact of the early release scheme of the Criminal Justice Act 2005, with the Parole Board now deciding in Panels concerned with determinate sentence prisoners, lifers and recalled prisoners. A wide range of significant issues, and case law, has arisen as a result of these changes, which the contributors to this book, leading authorities in the field, aim to explore.

1. Introduction, Nicola Padfield Part One: Setting the scene 2. Who should we keep locked up?, Duncan Nichol 3. Parole and Risk Assessment, Stephen Shute 4. The Parole Board and the Changing Face of Public Law, Mark Elliott 5. Why fairness matters in criminal justice, Alison Liebling 6. The New Zealand Parole Board: independence and domestic and international challenges, Tony Ellis Part Two: Dealing with indeterminacy 7.Dealing with indeterminacy: life sentences and IPP, Terry McCarthy 8. The Parole Board as a court, Simon Creighton 9. The Parole Board: Current Practice and Future Changes: a judicial member's perspective, Anthony Thornton Part Three: Recall: Challenges for the Parole Board and NOMS 10. The Recall and Re-release of Determinate Sentence Prisoners, Jo Thompson 11. Discretion, Offender attributes and the recall process, Helen Collins 12. Recall: Contested facts and risk assessment, Hamish Arnott Part Four: Is predicting risk fair? 13. Offenders' views on risk assessment, Gill Attrill and Glenda Niell 14. MAPPA, parole and the management of high risk offenders in the community, Hazell Kemshall 15. The paradoxical effects of stringent risk management: community failure and sex offenders, Jackie Craissati Part Five: Pulling the threads together 16. Public Confidence- the real challenge, Christine Glenn 17. A personal overview, Hugh Southey

Nicola Padfield is Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University.