The 51 jurisdictions are the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Federal Government. In early 1995, the National Institute of Corrections developed and distributed a survey questionnaire to the paroling authorities in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Parole Commission; all 52 of the agencies responded. Agency responses have been converted into a standardized narrative for each paroling authority. Data on specific aspects of the paroling authority and the release function are presented in the appendix. The format of information for each of the paroling authorities addresses recent policy developments, the parole board structure, discretion for parole release, parole release decisionmaking, the parole of life- sentenced offenders, agency discretion for conditions of parole, public access to the parole decision process, involvement of victims in parole processes, parole revocation, mandatory release, other functions of the adult paroling authority, and statistical information for fiscal year 1994. The statistical information for each jurisdiction includes the adult prison population at the close of fiscal year 1994, adult offenders considered for parole in fiscal year 1994, adult offenders released on parole in fiscal year 1994, the percentage of those considered who were released, adult parolees under supervision at the close of fiscal year 1994, final revocation hearings held for fiscal year 1994, adult parolees revoked and returned to confinement, adult parolees revoked and reparoled at the same time, cases released from adult parole supervision, and parole agency budget for fiscal year 1994. Additional data for each jurisdiction are provided in 23 appended tables.