Eli5: Why does the US justice system hand out sentences longer than anyone can possibly live?

750 views

Reports on the Ron Jeremy trial state he could be sentenced to between 250 years to life in jail. This seems nonsensical considering 250 years more than amounts to life in jail.

Why not just sentence him to the rest of his natural life in jail if found guilty. What’s the benefit of considering an incredibly long and impossible sentence?

In: Other

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Let’s say that you are arrested on charge of 4 murders. Each of which have a life sentences on it with a mininum of 10 year without parole (some type of murder can have 25 year without parole). During the trial, there isn’t enough evidence to convict you of 1 of the 4 murders, so you are sentenced for 3 life sentences. This mean that you stay in prison for life obviously, but you can get out on parole (aka with limitation) after 3 x 10 years = 30 years. Now after 10 years in prison, there is some evidence found that you didn’t commit one of the other two murders. So now you still have life in prison, but you have 20 years only before parole is available.

You are viewing 1 out of 6 answers, click here to view all answers.