Pennsylvania-Commission-on-Sentencing

After nearly a decade, Pa. sentencing commission adopts risk assessment tool over objections of critics

BY: - September 5, 2019

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing voted Thursday to adopt a controversial risk assessment tool designed to help county judges determine sentences and divert low-level offenders into alternative sentencing programs. The 7-2 vote, held during the commission’s quarterly policy meeting in State College, caps off nearly a decade of work on the […]

Sentencing officials are trying — again — to build an algorithm to predict future crimes. Critics still have big concerns

BY: - August 22, 2019

It’s been nearly 10 years since Pennsylvania lawmakers ordered a state commission to develop a computer algorithm to aid judges in sentencing with the goal of reducing prison populations.