Order 

      July 13, 2005





ADM File No. 2003-04



Amendment of Administrative 
Order No. 1988-4
                      

  On order of the Court, Administrative Order No. 1988-4 is amended as follows, effective
immediately.

                

ICLE Editor's Note:
                             
                             
[Italicized, bracketed text] indicates text that has been deleted.
                             
           Bold text  indicates new text.
                         

                             
                             
               Administrative Order 1988-4.
                   Sentencing Guidelines

      Administrative Order 1985-2, 420 Mich lxii, and Administrative Order 1984-1,
418 Mich lxxx, are rescinded as of October 1, 1988.  The Sentencing Guidelines
Advisory Committee is authorized to issue the second edition of the sentencing
guidelines, to be effective October 1, 1988.  Until further order of the Court, every judge
of the circuit court [and of the Recorder's Court of the City of Detroit] must
thereafter use the second edition of the sentencing guidelines when imposing a sentence
for an offense that is included in the guidelines.

      [In accordance with the directions found in the second edition of the
sentencing guidelines, every judge of the circuit court and of the Recorder's Court of the
City of Detroit must, not later than the date of sentencing, complete a sentencing
information report on a form to be prescribed by and returned to the state court
administrator.]  Whenever a judge of the circuit court [or of the Recorder's Court
of the City of Detroit] determines that a minimum sentence outside the recommended
minimum range should be imposed, the judge may do so.  When such a sentence is
imposed, the judge must explain [on the sentencing information report and] on
the record the aspects of the case that have persuaded the judge to impose a sentence
outside the recommended minimum range.

      [The Sentencing Guidelines Advisory Committee shall continue to analyze the
data and the departure reasons provided by the judges of the circuit court and of the
Recorder's Court of the City of Detroit and shall, at least annually, report to the Court the
committee's evaluation of the status, effect, strengths, and weaknesses of the guidelines.

]
      Staff Comment:  The amendment of MCR 6.425(D), effective immediately,
eliminated the requirement that the sentencing court complete a sentencing information report. 
Given this amendment of MCR 6.425(D), and because the judge is required to explain any
departure on the record, the requirement that the judge complete a sentencing information report
was also stricken from this administrative order.  References to the Recorder's Court of the City
of Detroit and the Sentencing Guidelines Advisory Committee were also stricken because they
no longer exist.