National Conference On Sentencing Begins

Monday, August 6th 2007, 5:16 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Officials from 27 states _ including lawmakers, attorneys, judges, professors, researchers and corrections officials _ began meeting Monday to discuss sentencing policies as part of the annual conference of the National Association of Sentencing Commissions.

Among the topics during the two-day conference _ which has the theme ``New Frontiers in Sentencing'' _ are costs and benefits in corrections and sentencing, how communities monitor sex offenders, risk assessment in sentencing guidelines, theories of sentencing and how to best communicate research to state policymakers.

The national association began in 1994 and representatives of nine states attended its first meeting, said NASC President Jack O'Connell, the director of the Delaware Statistical Analysis Center, which provides research support for that state's sentencing commission.

The association's annual meeting has evolved into a forum for officials from across the nation to compare notes about what works and what doesn't when it comes to sentencing policy.

``A lot of states do understand that they face common issues, even if their solutions aren't the same,'' said University of Minnesota law professor Kevin Reitz, who led a discussion at the conference on evolving sentencing guidelines throughout the nation. ``An awful lot of states borrow from one another.''

Oklahoma established its state Sentencing Commission in 1997 and is one of 21 states with similar bodies that typically serve as advisory boards to lawmakers. The American Law Institute has recommended, in its model penal code, that all states should have such a commission, Reitz said.

It's also important, O'Connell said, to make sure state lawmakers and the public remain informed about corrections and sentencing issues, ``so that people know what they're getting for their buck.''

Oklahoma's prison capacity is at 98.2 percent and some state lawmakers, including State Sen. Richard Lerblance, D-Hartshorne, are pushing for sentencing reform. Lerblance, the chairman of Oklahoma's Sentencing Commission, said the rising number of prisoners in the state are due to sentencing policies adopted by the Legislature that are forcing more inmates to serve longer sentences.

``We are at a crossroads on sentencing,'' Lerblance told conference attendees. ``We're going to have to do something different ... We're going to have to get over the thought that we're soft on crime because we're addressing these issues. We're going to have to get over the idea that we're going to lock them up and leave them there.''

Reitz said other states have been in similar situations and that Oklahoma can learn from their example.

``Every state that has tried, beginning with Minnesota and Washington in the 1980s, to deliberately take control of prison growth has had success in doing it,'' Reitz said. ``An awful lot have done that without sacrificing public safety.

``Giving a state those tools can be a very valuable thing. Then it's up to the particular state to decide how it's going to use that and what its priorities are going to be.''

The conference will end Tuesday.