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Types of Sentences

Mandatory Sentencing Explained

Mandatory Sentencing Explained

Mandatory sentencing is a court decision setting which serves to limit judicial discretion through law. Individuals who run afoul of mandatory sentencing laws find themselves facing a minimum number of years in prison. The mandatory sentencing laws vary widely from country to country.
Mandatory sentencing guidelines are primarily found in Common Law jurisdictions, since under Civil Law systems explicit laws prescribe minimum and maximum sentences for every type of crime which the prosecute.
In the United States of America, federal juries cannot be informed about mandatory minimum sentencing in federal cases, since the role of the jury in a federal court is limited to establishing and identifying the guilt or innocence of the defendant. However, these mandatory sentencing instructions are sometimes brought into testimony through the cross examination of an informant who had been facing similar charges prior to agreeing to testify against the defendant.
Mandatory sentencing laws were introduced in the United States after the United States Congress passed the Boggs Act in 1952 and the Narcotics Control Act of 1956. The first mandatory sentencing laws, and some of the strongest mandatory sentencing laws still on the books, are mandatory sentencing laws affecting the sentences associated with drug possession.
The most controversial mandatory sentencing laws that are in effect in the United States of America are the three strikes laws that have been passed in the state of California. These mandatory sentencing laws in California are so controversial because they completely remove the opportunity for discretion from the hands of a judge.

Important Facts About Life Sentence

Important Facts About Life Sentence

A life sentence results when the defendant in a criminal case is sentenced to life imprisonment. A life sentence is also known in some jurisdictions as life-long incarceration or being sentenced to life incarceration.
Under the legal system in the United States of America, a life sentence can only be assigned for serious felonies. Felonies that can result in an individual being sentenced to life imprisonment are murder, high treason, severe or violent cases of drug dealing, human trafficking, or cases of aggravated burglary or robbery that resulted in a death or great bodily harm.
Not every legal system around the world allows a sentence of life imprisonment. The first nation to abolish the opportunity for an individual to be sentenced to life in jail was Portugal, which abolished life sentenced through Penal Reform of Sampaio e Melo in 1884. 
Even under legal systems which provide for a suspect to be sentenced to life imprisonment, most jurisdictions provide the opportunities for individuals facing a life sentence to request parole after they have served certain periods of their life sentence. Being released from life imprisonment is usually dependent, or conditional, on previous and future behavior.
 
An individual facing who has been sentenced to life imprisonment may be given a life sentence with the possibility of parole, although especially heinous crimes may be eligible for life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Understanding Suspended Sentence

Understanding Suspended Sentence

A suspended sentence is the legal term for the process that occurs when a judge decides to delay a defendant’s having to serve a sentence for a crime which they have been convicted of and sentenced to serve. 
When a suspended sentence develops, a defendant is allowed to perform a period of probation. If during their probation the defendant does not perform another violation of the law, and manages to fulfill all of the conditions of the probation that were assigned when the judge suspended the sentence, the judge will typically throw out the original sentence.
Although they are closely related, there is a sharp difference between a suspended sentence and a deferred sentence. Specifically, a suspended sentence will stay on the defendant’s record, whereas a deferred sentence is likely to be cleared from the convict’s record after the probationary period has been satisfied. 
A deferred sentence will be removed from the public record if the conditions of the sentence are satisfied, whereas a suspended sentence will remain in the public record.
In the United States of America, a suspended sentence will often be given to first-time offenders who have committed minor crimes, with the prosecution also recommending that an offender be given a suspended sentence in exchange for entering a plea bargain.
Suspended sentences are often granted in order to mitigate the harshness of some criminal penalties.
A suspended sentence cannot be granted in federal courts, after they were removed by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984.

Countries With Death Sentence

Countries With Death Sentence

The death sentence is also known by the formal name of capital punishment. A person who is sentenced to death faces execution after the judicial process determines that it is an appropriate punishment for an offense. When a person is facing the possibility of being sentenced to death, their case is known as a capital crime or capital offense.


 

As of 2010, 58 countries currently impose the death sentence on their citizens. Some of these countries are:


·         The People’s Republic of China (Mainland China),


·         The Republic of China (Taiwan)


·         Ecuador,


·         Egypt,


·         India,


·         Indonesia,


·         Iran,


·         Iraq,


·         Israel,


·         Japan,


·         Malaysia,


·         Mongolia,


·         North Korea,


·         Pakistan,


·         Russia,


·         Saudi Arabia,


·         Singapore,


·         South Korea,


·         Tonga,


·         And the United States of America.


 

Throughout history, individuals in almost all countries have had to face being sentenced to death. At the current time, however, there has been a general trend towards abolishing the death sentence. Amnesty International currently considers most countries around the world to be abolitionist, meaning they are in favor of abolishing the death sentence. 



Despite the fact that most countries are opposed to the death sentence, 60 percent of the entire population of the world lives in countries where they could be sentenced to death. This is because the death sentence is allowed in the four most populous countries of the world: The People’s Republic of China, India, The United States of America, and Indonesia.