Vol. 9, No. 5, Pg. 42. Pro/Con Sentencing Guidelines Pro: Sentencing Reform in South Carolina-The Return of Sentencing Guidelines.

• Author: By Ashley Harwell-Beach

South Carolina Lawyer

1998.

Vol. 9, No. 5, Pg. 42.

Pro/Con Sentencing Guidelines Pro: Sentencing Reform in South Carolina-The Return of Sentencing Guidelines

42Pro/Con Sentencing Guidelines Pro: Sentencing Reform in South Carolina--The Return of Sentencing GuidelinesBy Ashley Harwell-BeachOver the past several years, South Carolina's criminal justice system has undergone major revisions. First was the passage of the comprehensive Crime Classification Act that became effective on January 1, 1994 and organized South Carolina's criminal offenses into felony and misdemeanor classes based on similar circumstances or crime seriousness. The second was the passage of truth-insentencing laws that became effective on January 1, 1996 and opened the door once again for the consideration of sentencing guidelines in South Carolina.

Early truth-in-sentencing proposals would have applied to all offenses. Generally, the average time served on a given sentence is approximately one-fourth to one-third of the actual sentence. Truth in sentencing requires service of 85 percent of a sentence--a significant increase. Many legislators and criminal justice experts expressed concern that without sentencing guidelines to complement truth in sentencing, the impact on already crowded prisons would be unmanageable. Thus, a compromise was reached, and the legislature passed truth in sentencing for those offenses with maximum possible penalties of 20 years or more, which includes most violent crimes, with the understanding that the Sentencing Guidelines Commission would develop a proposal for advisory sentencing guidelines for judges to use as a sentencing tool.

Opponents of sentencing guidelines suggest that the commission has not spent enough time considering sentencing guidelines and its impact on the criminal justice system in our state. Actually, the concept of sentencing guidelines is not new to South Carolina; in fact, this state was one of the first three to study guidelines systems and has been involved in some form of structured sentencing reform for over 15 years. Today, the federal government and over half of the states either have or are developing some type of...