Additional Sentencing Considerations

Concurrent and Consecutive Sentences, and Double Punishment

Judges often have discretion to decide whether to give defendants who are convicted of separate crimes concurrent or consecutive sentences. (See Oregon v. Ice, U.S. Sup. Ct.

Consideration of Dismissed Charges at Sentencing

In many states, judges may factor dismissed charges into sentences.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines: Mandatory or Not?

Congress passed The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 in response to concerns that federal judges’ sentences tended to be too lenient and vary too much from one locale to another.

What's the difference between consecutive and concurrent sentencing?

A defendant could be convicted and sentenced for multiple crimes. Within the bounds of the law, a judge can order a defendant to serve them at the same time or one after the other.

Why Do Judges Hand out Multiple Life Sentences?

It seems nonsensical: Why sentence a defendant to more than one “life” sentence? Life is, after all, life.