Alaska Prison Release Matrix Decision Making

• NCJ Number: 72632
• Author(s): M G Neithercutt
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 22 pages
• Grant Number(s): A18
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Corrections; Alaska Dept of Health and Social Services
• Corporate Author: Bay Area Research Design Associates
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This technical supplement to the Alaska Parole Board's parole guidelines tests a release decision matrix to be implemented as an information resource.

Abstract

It explores the set from which the matrix is generated which consists of data on mandatory releases. Examined within the set are data regarding race, release year, sentence lengths, and offenses. Correlations are then drawn between race and release data and between sentence length and release type. Further analysis is conducted on the data to operationalize matrix decisionmaking, and offenses are categorized according to their seriousness using the 1980 Alaska Criminal Code. Risk scores (the product of the relationship between parole performance and background factors) and seriousness factors are used to prepare a decision matrix, with attention to mean times served and median months served. Several additional variations are manipulated to further illustrate the use of a matrix decisionmaking table. Concluding remarks touch on the rationale for using race as a factor in the risk analyses and as a release decision factor. Extensive tables illustrate the matrix approach.