The Kansas Sentencing Commission is an
administrative agency
A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administratio ...
that is part of the
executive branch
The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a State (polity), state.
In poli ...
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 autonomy, or ...
. The purpose of the Kansas Sentencing Commission is to maintain an effective, fair, and efficient
sentencing
In 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 for mult ...
system for the state of
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
.
Mission and Philosophy
The agency's stated guiding philosophy is that the imposition of
incarceration
Imprisonment 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 "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...
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
An enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it (for authorization or legitimacy) the power to take certain actions. For example, enabling acts often establish government agencies to carr ...
, "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