Overview
Although the primary purpose of the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission (MSC) is to develop sentencing guidelines to submit to the state Legislature for enactment into law, it has not submitted its latest guidelines, which it approved on August 16, 2017, to the Legislature. As a result, these guidelines do not have the force and effect of law.
Authoritative Guidance
Section 2 of Chapter 211E of the Massachusetts General Laws states, “The [purpose] of the Massachusetts sentencing commission shall be to recommend sentencing policies and practices for the commonwealth.”
In addition, Section 3(a)(1) of that law states,
The commission, by affirmative vote of at least six members of the commission and consistent with all pertinent provisions of this chapter and existing law, shall recommend sentencing guidelines, which shall take effect only if enacted into law.
Finally, Section 3(g) states,
Beginning in the calendar year following the effective date of the sentencing guidelines, the commission, at or after the beginning of a regular session of the legislature, but not later than the first day of October, may submit to the legislature proposed amendments to the sentencing guidelines. Such amendments shall be accompanied by a report stating the reasons therefor. The amendments to the guidelines shall take effect only if enacted into law.
We note that some states’ Legislatures have established specific timeframes by which their sentencing commissions must submit any guidelines they have developed to the Legislatures for approval, which we believe is a good practice to ensure timely enactment. For instance, the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission is required by its enabling statute (Section 244.09 of the Minnesota Statutes) to submit to its state Legislature any modifications to its sentencing guidelines by January 15 of any year in which it makes changes.
Reasons for Issue
The current and previous MSC chairs cited a lack of a specific mandate to submit the guidelines in Chapter 211E of the General Laws.
Recommendation
MSC should work with the Legislature and others as necessary on an amendment to Chapter 211E of the General Laws that establishes specific timelines by which MSC must submit any guideline revisions it approves to the Legislature.
Auditee’s Response
At the end of our audit, we gave MSC a draft copy of this audit report for review and comment. MSC informed us that it would not provide any written comments on the report.
| Date published: | November 7, 2019 |
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