What's the Sentence for this Crime?

When a judge sentences a defendant after a guilty or “no contest” plea or a jury conviction, a variety of factors come into play.

Mitigating factors are facts or situations that don’t relate to the question of the defendant’s guilt but that support leniency in sentencing.

Prop 47 downgraded many theft and drug possession crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. With some exceptions, people with prior convictions for these crimes, no matter how old, are entitled to ask for resentencing as a misdemeanant.

How judges determine the punishment for people convicted of crimes.

In every state, crimes are put into distinct categories. The categories are usually "felony," "misdemeanor," and "infraction."

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.

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

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.