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 monitor 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.
News
November 15, 2021
The MSCCSP has approved tentatively, pending public input, certain amendments to the cell ranges of the existing Sentencing Matrix for Drug Offenses and the Sentencing Matrix for Property Offenses. The Commission invites public comment on those proposed amendments, or any other issue related to criminal sentencing policy, at the December 7, 2021, public hearing. A video presentation explaining the process of amending the guidelines is available HERE. Those who wish to speak at the hearing should register in advance. The MSCCSP should receive written public comment regarding the tentative amendments by no later than December 6, 2021.
