Sentencing Guidelines Commission
Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission
Originally established under Sentencing Reform Act of 1981, the Sentencing Guidelines Commission (Commission) was eliminated as an independent agency by ESSB 5891 effective July 1, 2011. On that date:
- The Caseload Forecast Council assumed responsibility for the adult felony conviction and juvenile disposition databases, the annual sentencing statistical summary, the adult sentencing manuals and the juvenile disposition manual.
- The Commission and the Sex Offender Policy Board (SOPB) were established within the Office of Financial Management. The Commission will serve to advise the Governor and the Legislature on issues relating to adult and juvenile sentencing. The SOPB will serve to advise the Governor and the Legislature on issues relating to sex offender management.
What's new
- December 2024 - This spring, the SGC was asked to review House Bill 2504 and make recommendations on any points of contention. You can find the SGC’s report here.
- December 2024 - In December 2023, the SGC submitted a report offering offense rankings on a proposed sentencing grid. The SGC completed a follow-up report that rectifies a few inconsistencies within those rankings and addresses some topics that arose during discussions around the first report that were outside the scope of the original request. That follow-up report can be found here.
- OFM’s Public Safety Policy and Research Center has published a supplemental report to the SGC’s December 2023 Re-ranking report. The supplemental report provides additional information related to the SGC’s processes for completing the project as well as additional considerations that were raised but were not fully considered by the SGC as it worked to complete the project. Get the PSPRC’s report here.
- Legislative Session
Legal Financial Obligations Calculator in now live!
A free online calculator developed by the Minority and Justice Commission in partnership with Microsoft to help Washington judges set appropriate levels of LFOs based on a defendant’s ability to pay is now available to the public. The calculator was developed as part of the Commission’s U.S. Department of Justice Price of Justice Grant and designed to include recent changes in the law. The LFO Calculator is compatible with the most current versions of the following browsers: Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari. For more information on the calculator, please read this news release.