The Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy (MSCCSP) has issued a reminder to all Maryland criminal justice practitioners that the revisions to the juvenile delinquency scoring component of the offender score approved by the MSCCSP will be adopted in the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) effective July 1, 2018. In light of the revisions, the MSCCSP has released a new version of the Maryland Sentencing Guidelines Manual (MSGM, version 10.0). You may access a print-friendly version of the updated MSGM via the MSCCSP website at msccsp.org/Files/Guidelines/MSGM/guidelinesmanual.pdf.

In addition to the juvenile delinquency score revisions, the new manual includes updated sample cases throughout, an updated offense table (Appendix A), and a revision to one of the victim information items (Chapter 11). The updated offense table reflects minor edits and the addition of a previously unclassified offense (EC, §10-439–Purchase, sell, transfer, or obtain any stem cell material donated in accordance with EC, §10-438 for financial gain or advantage). The revision to the victim information item involves changing “Victim Non-participation” to “Victim Participation” following feedback from practitioners to phrase the item in the affirmative.

Please share this information with your colleagues as appropriate. For additional details on the juvenile delinquency score revisions, see Guidelines E-News, Vol. 13, No. 2 (msccsp.org/Files/Reports/Enews/ENews13_2.pdf).