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.