Kansas felony levels and penalties are set by a sentencing grid that pairs a crime’s severity level with the defendant’s criminal history to produce a specific range of prison months. The state uses two grids: a nondrug grid with ten severity levels (1 is the worst, 10 the least serious) and a drug grid with five. Above both sits a category of off-grid crimes that carry a mandatory life sentence. Where your charge lands on the grid, together with your prior record, determines whether the default outcome is prison or probation and how long the sentence runs.
How the Kansas Sentencing Grid Works
Kansas replaced open-ended judicial sentencing in 1993 with the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act. The grid has two axes. The vertical axis is the crime’s severity level. The horizontal axis is the defendant’s criminal history, scored A (most extensive record) through I (no record or a single misdemeanor). Where the two lines meet you get a grid box with three numbers, all in months of imprisonment: a standard middle number, an upper number for aggravating factors, and a lower number for mitigating factors.
Both grids use the same nine criminal history columns, so a prior record carries the same weight whether your current charge is on the drug grid or the nondrug grid. The scoring itself distinguishes “person” felonies from “nonperson” felonies. Person offenses involve direct harm or threat to another individual and count much more heavily. Two prior person felonies put a defendant in a far worse column than two prior nonperson felonies of the same length.
Nondrug Felony Levels and Prison Ranges
The nondrug grid runs from Level 1 at the top down to Level 10 at the bottom. Each grid box gives a range, so the numbers below span from the lowest-history column (I) to the highest (A).
Levels 1 and 2
Level 1 covers the most serious on-grid offenses, including aggravated kidnapping and certain first-degree sexual assaults. Level 2 covers attempted first-degree murder and other violent crimes just below the worst tier. A Level 2 conviction runs roughly 109 months at the low end for a defendant with no criminal history up to 493 months for someone in the highest history category.
Levels 3 and 4
Level 3 includes voluntary manslaughter and certain aggravated battery cases, with ranges from 55 months for a clean record up to 247 months for the most extensive histories. Level 4 covers aggravated robbery and certain fraud offenses, running roughly 38 to 172 months. These mid-range levels still carry presumptive prison across nearly every criminal history column.
Levels 5 Through 7
Levels 5 and 6 include aggravated burglary and, in some circumstances, involuntary manslaughter. This is the part of the grid where probation starts to appear as the default for defendants with light histories. Level 7 covers a range of property and person offenses serious enough for felony treatment but short of the extreme violence at the top. For defendants in the lowest history columns, sentences at these levels can drop into single-digit months.
Levels 8 Through 10
The bottom of the nondrug grid covers certain thefts, criminal damage to property, and identity-related crimes. At Level 10 with no criminal history, the standard sentence is 6 months, and the box ranges from 5 to 13 months once aggravating or mitigating adjustments come in. Many boxes at these levels are presumptive probation rather than prison, so the default outcome for a first-time offender at the low end of the grid is community supervision.
Off-Grid Crimes
Some offenses are severe enough that Kansas places them outside the numbered grid entirely. Off-grid crimes include first-degree murder, capital murder, and specific sex offenses involving children. Every off-grid conviction carries a mandatory life sentence. The variable is when, if ever, parole becomes possible.
For off-grid offenses committed on or after July 1, 1999, the defendant must serve at least 20 years before parole eligibility, with no good-time deduction. Offenses committed between July 1, 1993, and June 30, 1999, require 15 years. Certain first-degree murder convictions fall under Kansas’s “Hard 25” and “Hard 40” provisions, requiring 25 or 40 years before any possibility of parole.
Kansas retains the death penalty for capital murder on paper, but the state has not carried out an execution since 1965. Death sentences have been imposed in more recent decades without being carried out, so in practice the maximum punishment is life with a very long mandatory minimum.
Drug Felony Levels
Drug offenses have their own five-level grid covering crimes under Kansas’s Uniform Controlled Substances Act, including possession, distribution, and manufacturing. Severity depends primarily on the type and quantity of the substance, not just the conduct.
Drug Level 1 covers the most serious trafficking quantities and carries the longest terms. Drug Level 2 covers large-quantity offenses such as possessing more than a kilogram of certain substances or growing more than 100 marijuana plants, with fines up to $500,000. Drug Level 3 applies to smaller quantities and carries fines up to $300,000. Drug Levels 4 and 5 cover lower-quantity possession and distribution.
The drug grid includes what are called border boxes at Levels 4 and 5 for defendants in certain criminal history columns. A border box carries a presumptive prison sentence but lets the judge impose probation instead without treating that as a formal departure. The nondrug grid has fewer of these, concentrated at Levels 5 and 6.
Presumptive Prison Versus Presumptive Probation
Not every felony conviction sends the defendant to prison. Each grid box is labeled either presumptive prison or presumptive probation, and the label depends on both severity level and criminal history.
The broad pattern: nondrug Levels 1 through roughly 5 are presumptive prison across almost every history column. Levels 7 through 10 are presumptive probation for defendants with lighter records. The middle levels are where the outcome swings hardest on prior record. A Level 6 offense with no prior record may default to probation, while the same offense with a significant history defaults to prison.
In a presumptive probation box, the sentence is served in the community under supervision. Conditions typically include regular check-ins, drug testing, community service, and any treatment programs the court orders. Violating those conditions can trigger revocation and imprisonment for the underlying sentence.
How Criminal History Changes the Number
Criminal history is the single biggest lever inside the grid. Two people convicted of the same crime at the same severity level can receive dramatically different sentences based on their records alone.
The nine columns run from A (three or more prior person felonies) down to I (one misdemeanor or no record). Prior person felonies weigh heaviest, followed by nonperson felonies, then misdemeanors. Juvenile adjudications can count too, though they are scored differently from adult convictions.
At Severity Level 3, a defendant in category I faces a standard sentence of 59 months. The same charge for a defendant in category A jumps to 233 months, almost four times as long, for the identical crime. That is why so much defense work goes into criminal history: reclassifying a prior conviction from person to nonperson, or correcting a scoring error, can shift the column and cut years off the sentence.
Departures From the Grid
The grid gives the default, but Kansas judges can depart from it in either direction when the facts warrant. A durational departure changes the length. A dispositional departure switches prison to probation, or the reverse.
Upward departures require the court to find aggravating circumstances from a specific statutory list, including a prior conviction involving great bodily harm, killing or creating a risk of death to multiple people, committing the crime for financial gain, or hiring someone else to commit it. The court can double the duration of the standard grid-box sentence when it departs upward.
Downward departures rest on mitigating circumstances, and that list is not statutorily closed. Common grounds include the defendant’s age, mental health at the time of the offense, lack of significant criminal history beyond what the grid already accounts for, and evidence of rehabilitation. Either way, the judge must state substantial and compelling reasons on the record.
Fines and Restitution
Prison time is only part of a Kansas felony sentence. The financial obligations can be significant and often outlast the incarceration.
Fine caps track severity. Level 2 drug offenses reach $500,000. Level 3 drug offenses cap at $300,000. Lower-level felonies carry proportionally smaller ceilings. These are maximums, and judges weigh the defendant’s ability to pay and the circumstances of the offense.
Restitution is separate and can be mandatory when a victim suffered financial losses. It covers replacement or repair of damaged property, medical expenses, lost income, funeral costs in homicide cases, and expenses the victim incurred participating in the prosecution. Fines go to the state; restitution goes to the victim or the victim’s estate.
Beyond those, defendants pay court costs, docket fees, and supervision fees. Probation supervision typically comes with a monthly charge. None of it is optional, and it can add up to thousands of dollars over the life of a sentence.
Post-Release Supervision
Finishing a prison term does not close the case. Most Kansas felony sentences include a mandatory period of post-release supervision after release, and the length depends on the severity of the original offense and whether it was person or nonperson.
Supervision conditions look a lot like probation: regular reporting, drug testing, travel restrictions, and prohibitions on possessing firearms or associating with certain individuals. A new crime during supervision virtually guarantees revocation, which sends you back to prison for the balance of the supervision term on top of the new charges. Technical violations like a missed check-in or a failed drug test can bring short-term sanctions or full revocation, depending on the history.
Collateral Consequences of a Kansas Felony
Some penalties reach beyond anything the grid prints. Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment from possessing firearms, and every Kansas felony meets that threshold. Restoring firearm rights is difficult; for state convictions a pardon or expungement may help in some circumstances, and for federal convictions only a presidential pardon works, because Congress has blocked the ATF from processing individual relief applications since 1992.
International travel can be affected. Some convictions, particularly drug trafficking or crimes against children, can lead to passport denial or revocation. Countries like Canada and Australia routinely deny entry to travelers with felony records. Leaving the jurisdiction while on supervised release or parole is itself a violation.
Kansas restores voting rights once the full sentence is complete, including any post-release supervision or parole. While the sentence is still being served, a person convicted of a felony cannot vote. Employment consequences are harder to measure but often the most disruptive in daily life, because many professional licenses are closed to people with felony records and background checks are routine.