If you build good guidelines, judges will follow

The title of this post seems to be the message of this local article discussing data on how frequently state judges in Pennsylvania sentence within applicable state sentencing guidelines.  Here are some of the details from an interesting (and all-too-rare) press discussion of state sentencing patterns:

There were 101,576 criminal sentences handed down in Pennsylvania courtrooms in 2008, and 1,530 of them were imposed by judges in the four Valley courts, according to the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing’s annual report.

Statewide, about 90 percent of the sentences meted out to convicted offenders conformed with the guidelines and 5 percent were shorter than suggested by the guidelines. In the Valley, the rate ranged from 92 percent conformity in Northumberland County to 98 percent in Montour County.

Judge William H. Wiest, one of three judges in Northumberland County, said he follows the state’s recommendations almost all the time because “they are well thought out, fair and reasonable.” Wiest said he’d like to see the guidelines broadened to allow judges the option of meting out harsher sentences.

After 11 years on the bench, he’d like to see the state increase its recommended sentencing for first-time drug sale offenders from a maximum of three months in jail to a maximum of seven months and allow more leeway in sentencing convicted drunken drivers. “I’d like a greater range of discretion,” he said....

Martin Wilson, assistant district attorney in Union County, said the creation of statewide sentencing guidelines helped level the playing field and ensured offenders in Philadelphia would face the same penalties as an offender who commits the same crime in the rural city of Sunbury. “They definitely served a valuable service in an effort to be consistent,” he said.