PRACTICAL SENTENCING

The Missouri Legislature last year approved a bill establishing a
Sentencing Advisory Commission to recommend criminal punishment
guidelines for judges across the state.

The aim of the commission's suggestions, which are now being
implemented, is to give judges information that will result in
proportionate sentences that protect victims and society.

Although the recommendations spell out in more detail what range of
sentences might be appropriate in certain situations, the new
guidelines pretty much foster the same judicial discretion that judges
have been using for years. At the heart of sentencing by most Missouri
judges is what the local community regards as a fair and just
sentence. Missouri has seen its prison population explode in recent
decades as more and more emphasis has been put on tougher sentences.
Federal courts have even imposed mandatory sentences, which many
judges believe takes away discretion to evaluate the severity of the
offense and the risk that the offender will commit another crime.

Missouri's new sentencing guidelines are underscored by practicality
and leeway on the part of judges. The proposed range of sentences for
various types of crime was based on sentences already being handed out
for those crimes. In addition, the guidelines emphasize alternative
sentencing when practical: drug courts, mental health courts and DWI
courts whose aim is to help offenders overcome problems that lead to
criminal charges rather than filling up another state prison.

Overall, the Sentencing Advisory Commission has taken a sensible and
useful approach to sentencing.