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Chipping Away at Public Safety
By Commentary Submissions,
5 days agoChip! Chip! Chip! That is the sound of the subtle but constant attack by State officials on public safety, rule of law, and accountability. The most recent attack is the Sentencing Guidelines Commission (“SGC”) proposal to eliminate Hernandizing multiple felony offenses. This means that offenders being sentenced on the same day for multiple felony convictions will be treated like a first-time offender with one felony conviction. Recently, the look back period for calculating felony criminal history points was reduced from 15 years to 10 years. In a recent Fillmore County case, this change reduced a defendant’s criminal history score from 7 points to 2 points. Chip! Chip! Crack! How about the legislative change that reduced a defendant’s probationary time for most felonies from 10 or 15 years to only 5 years? This was a significant reduction which now hinders probation’s ability to monitor a convicted criminal’s sustained compliance with the terms of his sentence. Similarly, the custody status point which previously added one or one-half criminal history point for crimes committed while on probation or parole was rendered meaningless. As of August 1, 2026, the Sentencing Guidelines Commission has removed custody status and prior juvenile adjudications entirely from calculating an offender’s criminal history score. An offender’s criminal history score is very important. Reducing the criminal history score significantly reduces the sentence that can be imposed by the Court. Chip! Chip! Crumble!
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