“Under the current guidelines, a person with no prior criminal history who commits some Class A offenses could receive a lighter sentence than if they had committed certain Class C offenses, for example.”

As Will the attorney here utterly fails to explain, this could be a consequence of how the laws are written by legislators, rather than sentencing decisions by judges. For example, “domestic violence” is not itself a felony in Washington state, but it can be a consideration in sentencing. So, conviction for the Class A felony, “assault with a deadly weapon” between two strangers could indeed receive a shorter sentence than would a conviction for the Class C felony, “assault with battery,” when it was against a family member.

As I personally have no problem with longer sentences for perpetrators of domestic violence, the situation as Will here describes it does not warrant legislative urgency. Perhaps he could instead advocate for the legislature to make domestic violence crimes explicit felonies?