Editing Parole board (section)

A '''parole board''' is a panel of people who decide whether an offender should be released from prison on [[parole]] after serving at least a minimum portion of their sentence as prescribed by the sentencing judge. Parole boards are used in many jurisdictions, including the [[United Kingdom]], the [[United States]], and [[New Zealand]]. A related concept is the '''board of pardons and paroles''', which may deal with [[pardon]]s and [[Commutation of sentence|commutation]]s as well as paroles.

A parole board consists of people qualified to make judgements about the suitability of a prisoner for return to free society. Members may be [[judge]]s, [[psychiatrist]]s, or [[criminologist]]s, although some jurisdictions do not have written qualifications for parole board members and allow community members to serve as them. A universal requirement is that board candidates be of good moral fiber.