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Determinate sentence - means a sentence of imprisonment with a fixed term.

Extended supervision order - under sections 107A-Q of the Parole (Extended Supervision) Amendment Act 2004, offenders convicted of certain sexual offences may be made subject to extended supervision orders lasting for up to 10 years. The Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections can apply to the Board to have special conditions imposed on an offender subject to an extended supervision order. These can include home detention-type conditions for the first 12 months, and electronic monitoring for up to the entire term of the order.

FRD - Final release date - is relevant to offenders sentenced under the Criminal Justice Act 1985. The law requires that an offender must be released from custody on their FRD, if their FRD is also their Statutory Release Date. The Board’s only role is to impose the conditions that an offender will be subject to on their release. An offender is no longer liable for recall after this date.

Home detention - is when an offender serves his or her prison sentence, or part of the sentence, at an approved residence. Offenders on home detention wear an electronic device so their movements can be monitored. They receive supervision from a Probation Officer.

Imposition of conditions - An offender who is detained under a long-term pre-commencement date sentence must be released from detention on his or her final release date. An offender who is otherwise detained under a long-term sentence must be released from detention on their statutory release date. Both these types of cases only come before the Board for the determination of the nature and duration of release conditions.

Indeterminate sentence - means a sentence of imprisonment that is imprisonment for life or preventive detention.

Order under s107 that offender not be released - The Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections may apply to the Board at any time before an offender’s final release date for an order under section 107 of the Parole Act 2002, that the offender not be released before their applicable release date.

The Board must make the order if it is satisfied that the offender would, if released, be likely to commit a specified offence between the date of release and the applicable release date. Such orders must be reviewed at least once every six months.

Parole - is when an offender is released from prison to serve the remainder of his or her sentence in the community on conditions supervised by a Probation Officer. Most offenders will be on parole for a set period and during that time they can be "recalled" to prison if they do not meet the conditions of their parole. Offenders sentenced to life imprisonment or preventive detention are on parole indefinitely.

Postponement of consideration for parole - If the Board is satisfied that in the absence of a significant change in the offender’s circumstances, an offender will not be suitable for release at the time when they are next due to be considered for parole, the Board can make a postponement order under section 27 of the Parole Act 2002. The offender’s hearing can be postponed for up to three years.

Pre-Commencement date or pre-CD sentences - means a sentence of imprisonment that was imposed before the Parole Act 2002 came into effect on 30 June 2002. This is known as the commencement date.

Recalls - occur when a Probation Officer applies to the Board to have a released offender recalled to prison to continue serving their sentence of imprisonment. This can happen on a number of grounds including when an offender fails to meet the conditions of their release, or commits an offence punishable by imprisonment.

The Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections lodges applications for recall for offenders subject to indeterminate sentences.

Reviews - occur when an offender applies to have the Board review a decision made at a hearing about them. Grounds for a review are set out in section 67 of the Parole Act 2002 and include:

- the Board not complying with the procedures laid down in the Act,
- the decision being based on an error of law,
- the Board basing its decision on "erroneous or irrelevant" information,
- the Board acting without jurisdiction.

Structured decision-making (SDM) - a model used by the Board to aid decision-making about an offender by presenting relevant information in a more structured way. It helps the Board to assess an offender’s likelihood of re-offending by focusing on the factors that are likely to lead to re-offending.

It considers the following:

- criminal history information to assess the risk of re-offending by assigning risk categories,
- information on an offender’s risk areas (for example, alcohol and substance abuse, family support, work and skills and prison activities and the steps taken in prison to address these needs, and,
- psychopathy checklist assessing the probability of future serious violent/sexual re-offending based on an assessment of personality pathology and any previous antisocial behaviour.

SRD - Statutory release date - means the date on which an offender who is subject to 1 or more sentences of imprisonment:

- must be released from detention; and
- ceases to be liable to be recalled.

Variation and/or discharge of conditions - Section 56 of the Parole Act 2002 allows an offender who is subject to release or detention conditions to apply to the Board at any time for a variation or discharge of any of those conditions. In addition, a Probation Officer may also apply at any time for the variation or discharge of any condition imposed by the Board on an offender.