Principles of Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines

The underlying reason for sentencing guidelines is so that people convicted of a similar felony under the same circumstances receive similar sentences. They’re also used so felons who are substantially different receive a proportional sentence within the guidelines.

Obviously, prison is the most severe penalty but it’s not the only sanction available to a judge. Because state and local correctional facilities can hold only so many people, incarceration should be limited to people convicted of the most serious crimes or who have a long history of offenses. As a result, we argue on behalf of clients for a judge to impose the least restrictive penalty available, offering mitigating circumstances that may have resulted in a crime being committed. We seek what are known as mitigated dispositional and durational departures from the sentencing guidelines.