The Kansas Sentencing Commission is an
administrative agency
A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...
that is part of the
executive branch
The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law.
Function
The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...
of Kansas
state government
A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...
. The purpose of the Kansas Sentencing Commission is to maintain an effective, fair, and efficient
sentencing
In criminal law, a sentence is the punishment for a crime ordered by a trial court after conviction in a criminal procedure, normally at the conclusion of a trial. A sentence may consist of imprisonment, a fine, or other sanctions. Sentences f ...
system for the state of
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
.
Mission and Philosophy
The agency's stated guiding philosophy is that the imposition of
incarceration
Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...
should be used in only the most serious offenders.
History
The Kansas Sentencing Commission was established in 1989 as a result of the passage of Senate Bill 50 that same year. The
enabling legislation, "The Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act" is set forth in K.S.A. 21-4701 et seq. The Commission's offices are located in Topeka, Kansas.
References
External links
Annual Reports of the Kansas Sentencing CommissionKansas Government Information Online Library
(Scroll down to Sentencing Commission)
{{authority control
Sentencing commissions in the United States
State agencies of Kansas
Government of Kansas
1989 establishments in Kansas