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Instructions for Completing Form 792—Report on Convicted Prisoners by United States Attorney

When preparing Form 792, describe the details of the offense. Include the dollar amounts involved in the crime, because this is important to the Parole Commission when it rates the severity of an offense, particularly in income tax, fraud, embezzlement, drug, and theft cases. In drug cases, provide information on the quantity and purity of the drugs. Explain the prisoner's role in the offense. The Parole Commission should be told of the nature and severity of the prisoner's involvement relative to that of his/her codefendants; this will prevent unjust disparity in the treatment among codefendants and help the Parole Commission to compare the prison terms of principals and accessories. Outline related charges dismissed upon entry of a guilty plea or not proved at trial. Whatever the government was prepared to prove should be reported fully, because the Parole Commission is entitled to consider unadjudicated charges so long as the prisoner has notice of them. Provide investigative information concerning the prior history of the prisoner and/or the offense. The Parole Commission needs specific data on the magnitude and duration of the criminal behavior; the Commission considers the amount of sophistication and/or planning of the offense and the degree to which the offense was part of a large-scale criminal conspiracy or a continuing criminal enterprise. The prisoner's criminal reputation should also be reported so that a determination can be made whether or not to treat his/her case under the original jurisdiction procedure. See 28 C.F.R. § 2.17. Prosecuting attorneys should not stipulate to facts in a manner that precludes the Commission from considering actual factors surrounding an offense. See 28 C.F.R. § 2.19(d). The Parole Commission must disclose to the prisoner all reports and documents used in parole release decision-making; if materials are considered which fall within the three broad exemptions of 18 U.S.C. § 4208(c), the Parole Commission needs only to furnish the prisoner with a summary of the exempted material. It is not necessary, however, to reveal or justify the precise exemption chosen. As a standard precaution, the name of the preparing attorney can be deleted from the disclosable copy of the report. Summaries of exempted material should be typewritten on a separate page with the heading SUMMARY OF INFORMATION WITHHELD, and should be attached to the copy of Form 792 which has been excised for disclosure to the prisoner. The original and excised copy should be sent to the institution in which the prisoner is confined. If investigative reports are included with the prosecuting attorney's report, the responsible agency should be requested to provide summaries of any material it deems exempt from disclosure. [cited in USAM 9-34.000]