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commits a crime on or after October 1, 1995, and subsequently is | | sentenced to a term of imprisonment of more than 6 months, | | receiving maximum deductions under section 1253, subsection 8, | | or about 60 days a year, will serve about 85% of the term of | | imprisonment. At the same time that the Legislature | | prospectively sharply reduced good time and meritorious good | | time awards, because sentencing courts since 1988 had been | | required to take good time and meritorious good time deductions | | into consideration in their sentencing decisions, the | | Legislature repealed and replaced Maine Revised Statutes, Title | | 17-A, section 1252-B to address the disparity. As replaced, | | Title 17-A, section 1252-B designated the existing provisions as | | subsection 1 with added specific reference to the deductions | | applicable to crimes committed prior to October 1, 1995, namely | | section 1253, subsections 3, 3-B, 4 and 5, and added a | | subsection 2 that addressed the disparity in deductions created | | by section 1253, subsection 8. See Public Law 1995, chapter | | 433, section 1. The Legislature directed in subsection 2 that | | to the extent that longer terms of imprisonment have previously | | been imposed in an effort to compensate for the impact of | | substantial good time and meritorious good time deductions, an | | adjustment must be made in the sentencing process for crimes | | committed on or after October 1, 1995 in view of the | | substantially reduced deduction under subsection 8. |
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| | | By January 1, 2004, the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17-A, | | section 1252-B, subsection 2 will have been law for over 8 | | years. During this transitional period, a large number of | | sentences subject to adjustment for the substantially reduced | | deductions have been imposed. That body of sentences serves | | to inform a court's sentencing decision rather than the pre- | | 1995 sentences. With its intended legislative purpose | | accomplished, this directive is no longer necessary. | | Repealing Title 17-A, section 1252-B is necessary to | | accomplish the intended fundamental policy change of allowing | | both the parties and the sentencing court to ignore | | administrative awards for good time and meritorious good time | | when a sentencing alternative involving imprisonment is | | requested or recommended by a party or imposed by a court. |
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| | | Section 15 amends the criteria for imposing fines to | | expressly recognize the existing limitation upon the court's | | discretion in the event the fine amount is mandatory and thus | | the convicted offender must be sentenced to pay the fine | | amounts required under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17-A, | | sections 1201 and 1301. |
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| | | Section 16 amends the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17-A, | | chapter 55, which concerns the Criminal Law Advisory | | Commission, to make section 1352, subsection 3 gender neutral. |
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