Sentencing Guidelines Worksheet Changes, 2002

Below are the changes to the worksheet made in 2002:

• In the Case Information section of the worksheet, in the Race box, a separate field is now provided for “unidentifiable race.”
• In the Victim Information section two new fields have been added. The first is a field to indicate whether or not there was a victim in the offense. This is to let the commission know that since there is no victim in the crime, there is no victim information to be collected. The second field is to indicate whether or not the victim was available to be a part of the judicial process. This field indicates if the victim did not participate, was not located, or did not maintain contact with involved parties.
• And finally, a new field was added to indicate whether or not an announcement regarding the mandatory serving of 50% of a sentence for violent crimes was made. Criminal Procedure Article, §6-217 states that at the time of imposition of a sentence of incarceration for a violent crime, as defined in §7-101 of the Correctional Services Article, that is to be executed and for which a defendant will be eligible for parole as provided in §7-301(C) or (d) of the Correctional Services Article, the Court shall state in open court that the defendant must serve 50% of the sentence for the violent crime before becoming eligible for parole.