1. A. The Commission shall establish criteria for use by a sentencing court in determining the most appropriate sentence to be imposed in a criminal case, including but not limited to:

   1. 1. Imposition of an active term of imprisonment;
   2. 2. Imposition of a term of probation;
   3. 3. Suspension of a sentence to imprisonment and imposition of probation with conditions, including house arrest, electronic monitoring, regular probation, intensive probation, restitution and community service;
   4. 4. Imposition of a fine;
   5. 5. Imposition of other sentencing alternatives;
   6. 6. Based upon the combination of offense and defendant characteristics in each case, the presumptively appropriate length of a term of probation, or a term of imprisonment;
   7. 7. Ordering multiple sentences to terms of imprisonment to run concurrently or consecutively; and
   8. 8. For a sentence to probation without a suspended sentence to imprisonment, the maximum term of confinement to be imposed if the defendant violates the conditions of probation.
2. B. The sentencing criteria shall take into consideration the goals, policies and purposes of the criminal justice and corrections systems, as set forth in Section 14 of this act.

3. C. In formulating criteria, the Commission also shall consider:

   1. 1. The nature and characteristics of the offense;
   2. 2. The severity of the offense in relation to other offenses;
   3. 3. The characteristics of the defendant that mitigate or aggravate the seriousness of the criminal conduct and the punishment deserved therefor;
   4. 4. The defendant's number of prior convictions;
   5. 5. The available resources and constitutional capacity of the Department of Corrections, other confinement facilities, and community-based sanctions;
   6. 6. The rights of the victims;
   7. 7. That felony offenders sentenced to an active term of imprisonment, or whose suspended sentence to imprisonment is activated, should serve a designated minimum percentage of their sentences before they are eligible for parole; and
   8. 8. That misdemeanor offenders sentenced to an active term of imprisonment, or whose suspended sentence to imprisonment is activated, should serve a designated minimum percentage of their sentence.
4. D. The Commission shall also consider the policy issues set forth in Section 14 of this act in developing its sentencing criteria. The Commission shall include with each set of sentencing criteria a statement of its estimate of the effect of the sentencing criteria on the Department of Corrections and local facilities, both in terms of fiscal impact and on inmate population. If the Commission finds that the proposed sentencing criteria will result in inmate populations in the Department of Corrections or local confinement facilities that exceed the authorized capacity, then the Commission shall present an additional set of criteria that are consistent with that capacity.
5. E. Beginning July 1, 1996, when imposing a criminal sentence, the court shall impose the sentence under the sentencing criteria formulated and adopted pursuant to this section if such criteria have been approved by the Legislature.

Added by Laws 1994, HB 1249, c. 355, § 11, emreg. eff. July 1, 1994.