The General Assembly intends that: (1) sentencing should be fair and proportional and that sentencing policies should reduce unwarranted disparity, including any racial disparity, in sentences for criminals who have committed similar crimes and have similar criminal histories; (2) sentencing policies should help citizens to understand how long a criminal will be confined; (3) sentencing policies should preserve meaningful judicial discretion and sufficient flexibility to allow individualized sentences; (4) sentencing guidelines be voluntary; (5) the priority for the capacity and use of correctional facilities should be the confinement of violent and career criminals; and (6) sentencing judges in the State should be able to impose the most appropriate criminal penalties, including corrections options programs for appropriate criminals.
Maryland Legal Code