Sentencing Guidelines In The Criminal Justice System

Sentencing Guidelines are a set of rules used by judges in the criminal justice system in the United States. The sentencing guidelines were first established in Massachusetts in 1994. When the sentencing guidelines were established, its main goal was to "promote truth in sentencing by developing a set of guidelines that was appropriate in consideration to the crime the individual had committed." (Massachusetts Sentencing Guidelines, February 1998, the Honorable Robert A. Mulligan, Chairman). There are ten steps that are included in the sentencing guidelines. The first step in the sentencing guidelines is to determine the seriousness level of the offense. To determine the seriousness level of the offense, a judge refers to the Master Crime

Based on the seriousness of the offense and prior convictions, offenders are placed into one of the five categories listed in the guidelines (no/minor record, moderate record, serious record, violent or repetitive record, or serious violent record). To place a defendant into a criminal history group: the defendant's prior convictions must be grouped by arraignment date into criminal incidents, using the master crime list, "assign an offense seriousness level to each criminal incident based on the most serious offense of conviction", record the number of criminal incidents at the offense seriousness level, and finally assign the defendant the most appropriate criminal history category. Similar to the seriousness of the offense, the judge must also take into consideration different factors. The first factor is the defendant's prior convictions/staircasing. The second factor is to take into account multiple incidents. Multiple convictions with the same arraignment date can be counted. The third factor is when a single incident/ multiple arraignment dates occur. A fourth factor is the mini-master crime list. A mini-master list creates a match between offense abbreviations in the CARI file and offenses on the master crime

A judge may depart from the guidelines by "imposing a sentence of incarceration where the guidelines prescribe intermediate sanctions only (green zone), or by imposing a sentence of intermediate sanctions where the guidelines prescribe incarceration only (red zone)." (Massachusetts Sentencing Guidelines, February 1998, the Honorable Robert A. Mulligan, Chairman). The presence of mitigating and aggravating can warrant the judge to depart from the sentencing guidelines. To determine mitigating or aggravation, the judge has to consider: the evidence received during the proceedings, the pre-sentence report, and any information that they deem credible. The judge is not required to conduct an evidentiary hearing to determine aggravating or mitigating factors. For crimes that do not require incarceration, "it is not a departure for a judge to impose a sentence within the applicable sentencing guidelines range." (Massachusetts Sentencing Guidelines, February 1998, the Honorable Robert A. Mulligan, Chairman). If the minimum term exceeds the sentencing guidelines than the imposition of the statutory minimum is not a