I was watching Dateline or one of those shows that talk about real crimes that have been committed, and a couple of the criminals received multiple life sentences for their crimes. I was thinking that seems kind of silly. given that if you don’t believe in reincarnation, there’s only one life…. so why multiple sentences? Well, I decided to look into that a little bit more.
Judges often hand down multiple sentences to punish multiple criminal offenses. Multiple charges may be decided in the same trial, but they are still considered separate crimes and often call for separate punishments. Even in cases of life imprisonment, multiple sentences can be very important in instances in which convictions are overturned on appeal.
Let’s say that a jury finds a man guilty of killing five people. The judge might sentence him to five life sentences. If one, or even four of the convictions is overturned, the murderer still has to serve a life sentence. He would have to be exonerated of all five murders for him to walk free.
And in the judicial system, “life” doesn’t always mean an entire lifetime. Depending on the sentencing guidelines of the state, the judge may sentence someone to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. In a case like that, life is the maximum length of the sentence — meaning that the defendant could conceivably go free if a parole board releases them after they’ve served the minimum time.
But — if a defendant is convicted on multiple charges, the judge may hand down multiple life sentences with the possibility of parole . And the judge can also specify that those sentences are to be served consecutively rather than concurrently. This means that the prisoner won’t get a parole hearing until the minimum time for all the sentences put together has been served.
So like just about everything these days, multiple life sentences are somewhat controversial, but they are a safeguard to ensure bad guys don’t see the light of day…..
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