In the US judicial system after a person is convicted and are at sentencing, why are some sentences (as an example) “25 years to life”? What does that mean in practice and why are some sentences exact times and others are ranges?
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When you hear sentences given as a range like “5-10 years” or “25 years to life” that means the convicted person must serve at least the low end of the range, before being eligible for parole.
So “5-10” is minimum five years, and then a chance of parole after 5 years, and a maximum of 10 years.
And “25-Life” is a life sentence with a minimum of 25 years before parole is an option.
In the past many states had indeterminate sentencing, meaning that the convicted would not know how long his sentence would be. This was a carry over from English common law. The sentencing authority could essentially keep him in custody for however long it wanted.
Eventually, our society came to realize that this was cruel punishment and didnt seve any peneological interest. I believe that every state has adopted some form of sentencing scheme that imposes statutory maximums and minimum sentences before the defendant is eligible for parole. In my state, Pennsylavania, the maximum sentence must be at least twice the minimum, though it could be more. Thus, if there’s a 5 year mandatory minimum, the shortest sentence is 5 to 10, but it could be 5 to 20, or whatever the statutory max is.
Also, just to add, often times what you are hearing is a prognostication of the range before the sentence is issued. The exception being “25 to life” which is typically only issued in cases that qualify as first degree felonies but happen to have mitigating circumstances heavily factored in.
And, by the way, federal sentences are day-for-day, meaning you do 100% of your time. State sentences are the ones that tend to fluctuate because of “time served” or “good behavior” or “parole.”
The other responses are off.
When you hear something like “they’re facing 5-10 years for these charges,” that’s referring to the range of possible sentences a judge is allowed to issue if the person is convicted. The specific sentence is at the discretion of the judge; they may be more or less lenient depending on the facts if the case, but the minimum sentence is five years, and the maximum is 10.
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