Section R. 791.7716 - Parole guidelines; factors; departure; appealRule 716.
(1) Parole guidelines that do not create disparities in release decisions based on race, color, national origin, gender, religion or disability shall be used to assist the parole board in making release decision that enhance the public safety.(2) Not less than once every 2 years, the department shall publish a numeric score for the factors set forth in subrule (3) of this rule and shall establish parole guideline score ranges which shall, to the extent possible based on current validity research, ensure that prisoners who score in the high probability of parole range do not exceed an assaultive felony recidivism rate of 5%.(3) A parole guideline score shall be based on a combination of the length of time the prisoner has been incarcerated for the offense for which parole is being considered and each of the following factors:(a) The nature of the offense(s) for which the prisoner is incarcerated at the time of parole consideration, as reflected by all of the following aggravating and mitigating circumstances: (i) Use of a weapon or threat of a weapon.(ii) Physical or psychological injury to a victim.(iii) Property damage of more than $5,000.00.(iv) Excessive violence or cruelty to a victim beyond that necessary to commit the offense.(v) Sexual offense or sexually assaultive behavior.(vi) Victim transported or held captive beyond that necessary to commit the offense.(viii) Unusually vulnerable victim, as reflected by age, impairment, or physical disproportionality.(ix) The prisoner acted as a leader of joint offenders.(x) The prisoner has been designated as involved in organized crime under R 791.4410(l)(k)(iii).(xi) The prisoner has been designated as being a career criminal under R 791.4410(l)(k)(iv).(xii) The prisoner has been designated as a drug trafficker under R 791.4410(l)(k)(v).(xiii) The prisoner is serving life or a long indeterminate sentence and is being considered for parole under section 34(4) of Act No. 232 of the Public Acts of 1953, as amended, being § 791.234(4) of the Michigan Compiled Laws.(xiv) The act was a situational crime with low probability of reoccurrence.(xv) The prisoner's role was minor or peripheral to other joint offenders.(b) The prisoner's prior criminal record, as reflected by all of the following:(i) Assaultive misdemeanor convictions that occurred after the prisoner's seventeenth birthday.(ii) The number of jail and prison sentences imposed.(iii) The number of felony convictions.(iv) The number of convictions for assaultive felonies as defined in R 791.4410(l)(l).(v) The number of prior convictions for sex offenses or sexually motivated crimes.(vi) The number of probation, delayed sentence, and parole failures.(vii) Whether the offense for which parole is being considered was committed while the prisoner was on probation, delayed sentence, or parole.(viii) Whether the prisoner was incarcerated for a violation while on probation for the offense for which parole is being considered.(ix) The number of commitments as a juvenile for acts that would have been crimes if committed by an adult.(x) Whether the prisoner was on probation as a juvenile for acts that would have been crimes if committed by an adult at the time the offense for which parole is being considered was committed.(c) The prisoner's conduct during confinement to a department facility, community corrections center, community residential home, hospital, or local jail, as reflected by the following: (i) The number of major misconduct convictions and security classification increases over the previous 5 years and during the year immediately before parole consideration.(ii) The number of nonbondable major misconduct convictions over the previous 5 years.(iii) The number of major misconduct convictions for assault, sexual assault, rioting, or homicide during the previous 5 years.(d) The prisoner's placement on the assaultive and property risk screening scales.(e) The prisoner's age at the time of parole eligibility.(f) The prisoner's performance in institution programs and community programs during the period between the date of initial confinement on the sentence for which parole is available and parole eligibility, including, but not limited to, participation in work, school, and therapeutic programs.(g) The prisoner's mental health as reflected by the following:(i) A psychiatric hospitalization as a result of criminal activity in the background of the prisoner.(ii) A history of physical or sexual assault related to a compulsive, deviant, or psychotic mental state.(iii) A serious psychotic mental state that developed after incarceration.(iv) Whether subsequent behavior or therapy suggests that improvement has occurred.(4) A prisoner may challenge his or her parole guideline category by filing a written objection with the parole board.(5) The parole board may depart from the parole guideline by not granting parole to a prisoner who has a high probability of parole or by granting parole to a prisoner who has a low probability of parole. A departure shall be for substantial and compelling reasons stated in writing.(6) The parole board shall not use a prisoner's gender, race, ethnicity, alienage, national origin, or religion as a reason to depart from a parole guideline.Mich. Admin. Code R. 791.7716