The Maryland General Assembly created the Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy (MSCCSP) in 1999 as an independent agency to support fair and proportional sentencing policy and to maintain the State’s voluntary sentencing guidelines for criminal cases sentenced in the circuit courts. The MSCCSP is responsible for collecting and automating the sentencing guidelines worksheets, maintaining the sentencing guidelines database, monitoring circuit court sentencing practice, adopting changes to the guidelines consistent with the sentencing practices of Maryland circuit court judges, and providing training and orientation to criminal justice practitioners who apply the sentencing guidelines.