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2008 SESSION

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SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 31 Offered January 9, 2008 Prefiled January 4, 2008 Requesting the Department of Corrections to study the use of a risk assessment tool in parole determinations. Report. ---------- Patron-- Puller ---------- Referred to Committee on Rules ----------

WHEREAS, despite the abolition of parole in Virginia in 1994, effective January 1, 1995, significant numbers of persons sentenced prior to that time continue to be eligible for parole; and

WHEREAS, considerations of public safety constitute a significant factor in parole board decisions regarding the release or continued imprisonment of the parole-eligible inmate; and

WHEREAS, currently the Parole Board does not utilize any uniform assessment tool to make determinations regarding the risk an individual poses to society, for the purpose of parole determinations; and

WHEREAS, the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Commonwealth's Program for Prisoner Reentry to Society recommended that the cost and impact of using a uniform risk assessment tool be studied; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the Department of Corrections be requested to study the use of a risk assessment tool in parole determinations.

In conducting its study, the Department of Corrections shall (i) identify an appropriate risk assessment tool for use in parole board determinations, (ii) determine the cost of the assessment tool, and (iii) determine the fiscal and administrative impacts of requiring use of the risk assessment tool in parole board determinations. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Department of Corrections for this study, upon request.

The Department of Corrections shall complete its meetings by November 30, 2008, and shall submit to the Governor and the General Assembly an executive summary and a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summary and report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports no later than the first day of the 2009 Regular Session of the General Assembly and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.