Arkansas Administrative Code Agency 154 - ARKANSAS SENTENCING COMMISSION
Here’s an overview of Agency 154 – Arkansas Sentencing Commission within the Arkansas Administrative Code:
🔎 What is Agency 154?
Agency 154 is the Arkansas Sentencing Commission, a part of the Department of Corrections, responsible for:
Establishing sentencing standards, including grid-based sentencing ranges.
Maintaining the Offense Seriousness Reference Table, which ranks all criminal offenses for sentencing purposes.
Monitoring and analyzing the impact of sentencing laws and guidelines on the state's correctional resources (doc.arkansas.gov, doc.arkansas.gov).
🏛️ Key Rules & Reference Tables
Agency 154 issues several rules, primarily seriousness tables for sentencing:
154.00.06‑001, 07‑001, 09‑001, 11‑001, 13‑001, 15‑001, 17‑001, 19‑001
– Each updates the “Seriousness Reference Table” that assigns numeric levels (1–10) to offenses by statute number and class (law.cornell.edu).
For example, Rule 154.00.11‑001, current through March 2025, provides a detailed table that includes statutory classifications, offense names, seriousness rankings, and notes on mandatory percentages or enhancements – e.g., methamphetamine offenses require 70% served (regulations.justia.com).
📊 How the System Works
Each crime is assigned a seriousness level (1 = least, 10 = most severe).
Combined with an individual's criminal history score, that seriousness level maps to a sentencing grid with presumptive sentencing ranges.
The Commission also issues guidelines on enhancements, target offenses, criminal history scoring, and handles omitted-offense discretion (regulations.justia.com).
📅 Updates & Compliance Oversight
The Commission meets quarterly to review and amend guidelines, develop impact assessments, and ensure ongoing compliance (doc.arkansas.gov).
As part of its oversight duties, it produces a biennial report (e.g., December 2022) on compliance with guidelines, showing trends such as ~78–80% compliance in 2018–19 (doc.arkansas.gov).
🔗 Additional Resources
Official Commission page (Arkansas DOC) with details on mission, structure, forms, and guidelines manuals (doc.arkansas.gov).
Published “benchbook” or guidelines manual: reproduces Commission rules, seriousness tables, sentencing grids, and practice guides (doc.arkansas.gov).
✅ Bottom Line
Agency 154 codifies sentencing standards through seriousness rankings and grids; monitors corrections system impacts; meets regularly to update policies; and tracks judicial compliance in biennial reports.
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