Criminal Punishment: Sentencing

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The sentencing process is created by some of the legislative party, who use their control to decide on the type of criminal punishment. The sentencing guidelines for the judges to go by can be different depending on the jurisdiction and can include different sentencing such as “diversionary programs, fines, probation, intermediate sanctions, confinement in jail, incarceration in a state or federal prison, and the death penalty” (Siegel & Bartollas, 2011, p. 40). In some jurisdictions the death penalty is not included as one of the punishments. Being sentenced is step one of the correction process and is in place to discourage repeat offenders (Siegel & Bartollas, 2011, p. 40). Depending on the crime committed the offender can be sentenced to a consecutive sentence or a concurrent sentence. If an offender is charged for committing more than one crime the judge can give the offender a concurrent sentence where both charges are served at the same time. If an offender is charged for committing more than one crime the offender can be giving a sentenced where he has to serve time for each crime one after the other (Siegel & Worrall, 2013, p. 210). Once the offender has been sentenced from there you will be able to determine if the sentence is indeterminate or determinate.
One sentence that is handed down is the indeterminate sentence. This sentence permits early release from a correctional institution after the offender has served a required minimum portion of his or her sentence ("Indeterminate vs Determinate Prison Sentences Explained | Criminal Law", n.d.). This may be a good type of sentence for someone that may be a first time offender or maybe one that the judge may feel has a good chance at being rehabilitated. One problem with...

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...ieved from http://definitions.uslegal.com/f/flat-time%20/
Gardner, T. J., & Anderson, T. M. (2012). Criminal Law (11th ed.).
Hanser, R. D. (2010). Community corrections. Los Angeles: Sage.
Indeterminate Sentencing. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://trial.laws.com/sentence/types-of-sentences/indeterminate-sentencing
Indeterminate vs Determinate Prison Sentences Explained | Criminal Law. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/determinate-sentences.cfm
Siegel, L. J., & Bartollas, C. (2011). Corrections today (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Siegel, & Worrall (2013). Essentials of Criminal Justice (8th ed.).
Thomas, J. (1997, January). Mandatory sentencing. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/161839.pdf
Types of Sentences - FindLaw. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-procedure/types-of-sentences.html

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