NCJ Number
238737
Date Published
March 2011
Length
118 pages
Annotation
This report from the Kansas Sentencing Commission presents an analysis on the effectiveness of the State's sentencing guidelines for fiscal year (FY) 2010.
Abstract
Key findings on the effectiveness of Kansas' sentencing guidelines show that for FY 2010 felony sentences increased 3.1 percent over FY 2009 levels, to 13,810. Of the total number of felony sentences, 36 percent were prison sentences, 57.7 percent were probation sentences, and 6.4 percent were county jail sentences, while 72 percent of the sentences were nondrug sentences and 28 percent were drug sentences. Demographics of those sentenced under the guidelines include the following: almost 89 percent of offenders receiving prison sentences were male; males were sentenced more frequently for violent and sex offenses, while females were sentenced more for crimes of theft, forgery, and identity theft; Whites accounted for 66.2 percent of admissions to State prisons, a slight decrease from FY 2009; 52.6 percent of probation sentences were for DUI, theft, burglary, or forgery offenses, while 66.3 percent of drug probation sentences were for the crime of drug possession; and males accounted for 90.2 percent of the felony jail sentences at county jails, with felony DUI accounting for 99 percent of the sentences. Additional information is provided on drug incarceration sentences by drug severity levels; prison sentences for parole/post-release supervision violators, probation condition violators, and conditional release violators; the rates at which the actual sentences imposed conformed to the sentence identified under the Sentencing Guidelines Act; sentences imposed under special sentencing rules; and prison population projections for the 10-year period ending FY 2020. Tables, figures, and appendixes