Opinion ID: 429493
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: How the Parole Commission Operates

Text: 4 Congress has vested the United States Parole Commission with broad authority to establish guidelines governing the parole of federal prisoners. See 18 U.S.C. Sec. 4203 (1982). Relying on this mandate, the Commission has established a formula for determining when a prisoner may be released on parole. 5 For our purposes, 1 the formula consists of two components: the salient factor score and the offense severity score. 6 The salient factor score focuses on the characteristics of the offender. It is a number indicating whether the prisoner is a good parole risk. The Commission commonly considers prior convictions in determining the salient factor score. 7 The offense severity score, on the other hand, focuses on the characteristics of the offense. It is a classification indicating how evil the crime is. Until recently, the Commission determined the offense severity score by considering only outstanding offenses. 2 That is, the Commission did not calculate an offense severity score on the basis of crimes for which the prisoner had already served full sentence.