Consecutive vs Concurrent sentences

I don't know about the felons, but there's no way I'd want to do 10 years in a Federal pen.
I had a nephew who died of covid last month or so at 44 years old. He spent most of his adult life behind bars. But somehow managed to father 6 kids, 4 of them behind bars right now. I saw him once maybe 35 years ago. No way I ever want to do time.
 
Whether someone serves multiple sentences consecutively or concurrently is up to the judge; the judge does not have to honor any plea agreement made between prosecution and defense, once the defendant makes a guilty plea. Concurrent sentences run the length of the longer sentence; if someone gets 10 years for armed robbery, but 5 years on possession of a stolen handgun, for example, his concurrent sentence would run 10 years. It also depends on state and/or Federal conviction and jurisdictional priorities. There seems to be very little simplicity in sentencing guidelines, have a read here:

https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/...al-national-training-seminar/2017/BOP_FSS.pdf
 
Hair Trigger said:
Whether someone serves multiple sentences consecutively or concurrently is up to the judge; the judge does not have to honor any plea agreement made between prosecution and defense, once the defendant makes a guilty plea. Concurrent sentences run the length of the longer sentence; if someone gets 10 years for armed robbery, but 5 years on possession of a stolen handgun, for example, his concurrent sentence would run 10 years. It also depends on state and/or Federal conviction and jurisdictional priorities. There seems to be very little simplicity in sentencing guidelines, have a read here:

https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/...al-national-training-seminar/2017/BOP_FSS.pdf
Click to expand...

So a plea deal doesn't need to be honored by the judge? Do they just take it under advisement as a request? So they plead guilty hoping that the judge agrees?
 
What I hate is when someone goes to trial and is found not guilty but the feds don't like it so they call the crime something else which is a fed crime and try him again on the same crime. The courts have held that this is not double jeopardy but sorry I don't agree.
 
Likely a mistake to state my opinions; it frequently is.

I don't "believe" in capital punishment - mostly because it has been repeatedly confirmed it costs the state's taxpayers more than a life sentence what with automatic appeals and the delays common to carrying out a death sentence. Too, I think just one mistake regarding the execution of a convict, that is killing an innocent person, is one too many. Plus it has been well-demonstrated it does not serve as an effective deterrent.

I believe in something potentially worse for the worst of crimes against society; life at hard labor. I know it no longer exists but can't imagine why it should not.
 
Incarceration of bad folks is far cheaper than their recidivist behavior, but that is not well accepted and sometimes denied. The consecutive vs. concurrent issue is usually a matter state law. It is part of our felony sentencing statute here; there are specific standards for when sentencing can be consecutive. Multiple convictions for the same case, if the crimes do not merge, means that they score against each other and impact the sentencing range.

The scoring is so complicated that there is a 400+ page manual with many hundreds of score sheets to guide us. In reality, much of it is driven by trying to control corrections cost, without considering that truth I pointed out in my first sentence (pardon the pun). Misdemeanor sentencing is not controlled by in the same way, so some folks can end up with years in a county jail.
 
TXBryan said:
Likely a mistake to state my opinions; it frequently is.

I don't "believe" in capital punishment - mostly because it has been repeatedly confirmed it costs the state's taxpayers more than a life sentence what with automatic appeals and the delays common to carrying out a death sentence. Too, I think just one mistake regarding the execution of a convict, that is killing an innocent person, is one too many. Plus it has been well-demonstrated it does not serve as an effective deterrent.

I believe in something potentially worse for the worst of crimes against society; life at hard labor. I know it no longer exists but can't imagine why it should not.
Click to expand...

Capital punishment is one of those issues where I could argue either side with equal passion, and over the course of my life I have changed my opinion on it from time to time.

I will say this: We humans are the only species on earth that tolerates the presence of violent predators. If we are not going to execute the monsters amongst us, we need to ensure they are never, ever allowed to breathe as free men again.
 
Doug M. said:
Incarceration of bad folks is far cheaper than their recidivist behavior, but that is not well accepted and sometimes denied. The consecutive vs. concurrent issue is usually a matter state law. It is part of our felony sentencing statute here; there are specific standards for when sentencing can be consecutive. Multiple convictions for the same case, if the crimes do not merge, means that they score against each other and impact the sentencing range.

The scoring is so complicated that there is a 400+ page manual with many hundreds of score sheets to guide us. In reality, much of it is driven by trying to control corrections cost, without considering that truth I pointed out in my first sentence (pardon the pun). Misdemeanor sentencing is not controlled by in the same way, so some folks can end up with years in a county jail.
Click to expand...

Just an observation - it is interesting to see how sentencing varies from state to state. Washington and many other states have "sentencing guidelines" that limit the court's discretion in sentencing, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Wyoming has no sentencing guidelines at all. We have a statute that sets a maximum sentence for a given crime and that's it. Some would say that's good, some would say otherwise, but I sure liked the ability to make decisions without undue interference from the legislators and the bureaucrats.
 
My opinion of most of the legislature and their gross ignorance of the reality of bad people would peel the paint off a battleship, and cause any moderator whose heart could take seeing what I think to ban me and all of my relatives. The polite version is that they are on the wrong side of Dunning-Krueger.
 
Hair Trigger said:
Whether someone serves multiple sentences consecutively or concurrently is up to the judge;

https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/...al-national-training-seminar/2017/BOP_FSS.pdf
Click to expand...

True, except in those cases where the legislature specified that sentencing for a particular crime(s) had to be consecutive. A usual example would be use of a firearm while commiting a crime. Legislators appear to have little patience with judges who tend to overwork concurrency.

Example, there was a dude who's typical "employment" when not a guest of the state was armed robbery. He'd gotten used to the 2-4 years concurrent typical sentence. Then, after passage of the use of a firearm in a crime law, he got tried & conviced for 6 armed robberies. The judge gave him 2-4 years concurrent for the robberies, apologized and then gave him 5 years on each count consecutive.

Dude: "What that mean?"
Public Defender (PD): "32-34 years".
Dude: "He can't do dat."
PD: "He just did."

Did do wonders for the local shop keepers.
 
A concurrent sentence refers to a type of sentence judges are able to give defendants convicted of more than one crime. Instead of serving each sentence one after another (consecutive sentences), a concurrent sentence allows the defendant to serve all of their sentences at the same time, where the longest period of time is controlling.
 
Doug M. said:
Incarceration of bad folks is far cheaper than their recidivist behavior, but that is not well accepted and sometimes denied.
Click to expand...

Yes, because of our ledger driven society. Incarceration appears on one ledger, the public purse, where everyone can see it and complain. Recidivist behavior is spread between the insurers, people paying out of pocket, medical bills, etc,. so it becomes diffuse, effectively invisible.
 
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