If the offender is so dangerous, why are you letting him/her out in the 1st place?
Washington is one of the states that have specific sentence ranges for each crime. These sentence lengths are called presumptive sentences and are determined by the Washington State Legislature (this is called determinate sentencing). When this offender was sentenced to prison by the judge, the length of required prison time was within the range.

Someone with no previous offenses has a shorter sentence than someone who has been in trouble before. A person, who has a previous offense against a person, will be sentenced to a longer term than someone whose previous offense was a property crime. These possibilities are included in the sentencing guidelines.

On some occasions, judges don’t follow the guidelines. This is called an exceptional sentence. When a judge has a compelling reason to depart from the sentencing guidelines above or below, he or she must submit the reasons for that departure into the court record.

At some point in time, the offender will have served the sentence required by law and must be released. Once the sentence is finished, neither the Law Enforcement Agency, nor the Court has the power to tell the offender where to live or work.

Show All Answers

1. What is the definition of a Level III sex offender?
2. What is the definition of a Level II sex offender?
3. What is the definition of a Level I sex offender?
4. Why is the offender moving into my neighborhood?
5. Do offenders have restrictions on where they can live?
6. When is the Bremerton Police Department going to move the offender out of my neighborhood?
7. Is the City of Bremerton doing anythin g to prevent offenders from living in Bremerton?
8. If the offender is so dangerous, why are you letting him/her out in the 1st place?
9. Why are you only telling me about this offender and not all of the other people who get out of prison?
10. Now that I know a sex offender lives in my neighborhood, what should I do differently to protect myself and my family?
11. What do I tell my children about an offender?
12. Are you going to tell us if the offender moves out of this neighborhood, so we don’t have to worry anymore?