News and Information
E-News
Guidelines E-News is a periodic newsletter delivered via email by the Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy. Guidelines E-News provides information on the system of voluntary guidelines for the State’s circuit courts and highlights changes to the guidelines. It also provides useful information on worksheet completion and submission.
E-News 2025, Volume 20
News Releases – 2025
- March 21, 2025: Proposed amendments to the sentencing guidelines were published in the March 21, 2025, issue of the Maryland Register (Volume 52, Issue 6). The proposed amendments update the list of common departure reasons to more accurately reflect the reasons for departing from the sentencing guidelines that are most frequently cited by circuit court judges. Additionally, the amendments modify the guidelines offense table to include: (1) one previously unclassified offense (EL, § 16-205); (2) one reclassified offense (CR, § 3-708); and (3) minor, non-substantive edits to two offenses.
- January 31, 2025: The MSCCSP released its 2024 Annual Report, which covers the Commission’s activities over the past year and reviews circuit court sentencing practices for fiscal year 2024. As required by CP, § 6-209(b)(iii), the annual report includes a detailed report on sentences for crimes of violence (COV). Information supplementing the COV report may be found on the recently updated COV Data Dashboard.
- January 6, 2025: The MSCCSP scheduled a virtual meeting for January 7, 2025, to discuss SB 152 (2025) and its potential impact on the sentencing guidelines.
