How is the Potential Punishment for a Given Offense Determined?

The potential punishment for a misdemeanor or a felony will be set forth in the statute that specifically outlines that crime. Most misdemeanors will have a penalty ranging from a small amount of jail time all the way up to one year. Felonies will typically have a punishment ranging anywhere from one year in jail to life in prison, for example for murder. All of those punishments will be set out by the statute.

When a court decides what punishment to impose in a particular case, the court will hear from the government as well as the defense. They will consider the defendant’s prior criminal history, the specific facts of the case before the court, and any other factors that come into play as far as the defendant’s prior military service, what their employment status is, what their family situation is, and things of that nature.

For felonies, the District of Columbia has sentencing guidelines and those guidelines set out a grid of the seriousness of the offense alongside the defendant’s criminal history that then determines a sentencing range. For example, a first time offender on a lower level felony such as theft or a drug offense who has no prior criminal history may be facing a possible penalty of probation with no jail time, probation with some jail time, or all prison time. As the criminal history score goes up, meaning if the defendant has several crimes in their recent history on their record, then they could be put in a situation where the judge has no other options besides prison. If the offense that they are in front of the court for is serious enough, for example rape (which is called sexual abuse in the District) or murder, then even if it is a first offense, the judge will look at the sentencing guidelines and see that prison is the only possible sentence for those offenses.

In any case, there will be a range set forth in the sentencing guidelines, for example a range of 20 to 36 months in jail. The judge would then take a look at all of the factors involved in the case, take a look at the guidelines, and make a decision as to how many months in prison to impose in that range of 20 to 36 months.