What is “Smart Sentencing?
Some have asked what I mean by “smart sentencing” and ask for examples. For my purposes, “smart sentencing” is sentencing that rationally seeks to accomplish an objective — usually reducing the likelihood that an offender will commit future crimes, but the concept can apply to any sentencing objective. Sentencing rationally seeks an objective whenever it uses best efforts to access relevant information about the sentencing choices available for an offender. Sentencing support tools are but one source of helpful information. Within limits, these tools tell us what has happened (in terms of subsequent criminal behavior) to similar offenders, sentenced for similar crimes, who received any of the dispositions available for the offender now being sentenced. Of course, “similar” is hardly the same as identical, and depending upon the size and nature of the cohort of offenders, the precision with which we’ve identified truly similar offenders may vary greatly. Even with an “identical” cohort
