Sentencing Commissions and Guidelines by the Numbers: Cross-Jurisdictional Comparisons Made Easy by the Sentencing Guidelines Resource Center

Though the Sentencing Guidelines Resource Center highlights information for 26 jurisdictions, including the federal government, not all of these jurisdictions have sentencing guidelines. Neither do all of the jurisdictions have sentencing commissions. And over time, jurisdictions have moved back and forth between classifications as sentencing commissions have been formed and sunsetted and as guidelines systems have developed and been undercut by various factors, creating an even larger potential pool for study. This publication focuses on the 17 jurisdictions that exhibit the strongest characteristics of sentencing guidelines: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, U.S., Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C.