A sentence in Shelby County should be equal to one for the same crime in Jefferson County, Montgomery County or any other county in the state, but under the current system, that's not the case, according to Bob Williams, a Shelby County public defender.

Williams is working to change sentencing disparities along with his fellow members of the Alabama Sentencing Commission, which ended a two-day work group on sentencing reform Friday.

"This will probably be the biggest thing that has happened in criminal law my whole career," said Williams, who has been practicing law for nearly three decades.

A 2003 commission study found that where someone is convicted has a huge impact on his or her prison sentence. For example, between 12 percent and 87 percent of first-time drug offenders get prison time, depending on the county.

To remedy the situation, the commission now is looking at a point system for sentencing that has been used in Virginia for the past 10 years. On Thursday and Friday, the commission looked at a proposed sentencing system for drug offenders.

Under the proposed system, a judge would evaluate offenders to determine if they should go to prison, and if so, for how long.

A convicted offender would be assigned points depending on factors such as prior history, juvenile records, prior prison time and prior parole or probation revocations.

The judges would tally up the points to reach a recommended sentence. Using the system would be voluntary, and judges could depart from the recommended sentence if they wished.

Commission member David Rains of Fort Payne is one judge who plans to use the system.

"We've spent the last three years finding data and as a result of our statistical data, we should be able to give judges tools for sentencing to better utilize prison space and resources. I hope this will be cost-saving to the state and provide benefits for all of us," Rains said.

Rains hopes the system would help judges identify which offenders could benefit from treatment and divert them from the ones who need prison time.

The project is in the beginning phases, the drug sentencing system still is being worked out and the commission has yet to come up with proposed sentencing systems for crimes against people and crimes against property.

Williams' biggest worry is that the state's judges won't learn how and when to use the point system if it is implemented.

"This is not simple. There's a huge learning curve. If the judges don't understand it, and the DAs don't understand it, this will all be for naught," he said.

But judges in Virginia have embraced the system, according to Tammy Meredith, an Atlanta-based mathematician and statistician who worked on the Virginia project. She is helping to develop a model for Alabama.

"It's voluntary, but 85 percent of felony cases in Virginia are sentenced in the guidelines. Judges like it and judges use it," she said.

The commission will have to present the system to the Legislature during the 2004 session in compliance with the Sentencing Reform Act of 2003.