Keeping the Public in the Dark

Abstract

Drawing on a survey of parole board chairpersons in 45 of 50 states (90%) and the District of Columbia conducted between October 1997 and March 1998, this study focuses on the availability and ease of access of information concerning the parole of murderers to the public. Two important findings are reported: (a) The record-keeping systems of parole boards generally contain information that makes it possible to distinguish between prisoners convicted of various types of murder, and (b) the official publications and reports released by parole boards do not generally distinguish among categories of murder in reporting parole information and virtually never provide information on parole decisions with respect to capital murderers not sentenced to death.