Advantages. The primary advantage of determinate sentencing is that, it removes any possibility of bias during the sentencing portion of the trial, regardless of whether the judge likes a person or not. So, a predetermined standard sentence is given out, no matter what the identity, race, or religion of the accused is.

What Are the Four Types of Sentences?

• Declarative sentence.
• Imperative sentence.
• Interrogative sentence.
• Exclamatory sentence.

A judge must impose a sentence that is sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to: reflect the seriousness of the offense; promote respect for the law; provide just punishment for the offense; adequately deter criminal conduct; protect the public from further crimes by the defendant; and provide the defendant with …

The key difference between determinate and indeterminate sentencing is that the determinate sentencing is a prison sentence that is definite and is not subject to review by a parole board whereas the indeterminate sentencing is a prison sentence that consists of a range of years, not a fixed amount of time.12

Racism and sexism. Some prison reform and prison abolition supporters have argued that race and gender are both valid reasons for disparity in sentencing.

The historical changes in sentencing and corrections policies and practices can be characterized, in part, by the emphasis on different goals. Four major goals are usually attributed to the sentencing process: retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence, and incapacitation.

felony

A jail or prison sentence that is definite and not subject to review by a parole board or other agency. For example, a sentence of six months in the county jail is determinate, because the prisoner will spend no more than six months (minus time off for good behavior, in some situations).

seven years

Determinate and Indeterminate Determinate varieties (including bush varieties) reach a certain plant height and then stop growing. Indeterminate varieties continue to grow and produce tomatoes all along the stems throughout the growing season.

A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge’s delaying of a defendant’s serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation.

A suspended sentence comes with similar restrictions and, if they commit another crime or don’t keep to the requirements, they can be sent to prison. Those with a criminal record may also find it difficult to secure a mortgage, get insurance or travel and work abroad.

A suspended sentence will count towards the 30 months, even if no custodial sentence is actually served. So for example, if your sentence is 32 months, wholly suspended, this cannot be considered for a ‘spent conviction’.8

It will remain on the PNC indefinitely and will be used in any future criminal proceedings. If you breach any of the conditions or commit another crime you will usually go to prison to serve the sentence.

As an alternative to imprisonment, a judge can suspend a prison or jail sentence. This is typically used in cases involving less serious crimes or for first-time offenders and there are several different kinds. Before the imposition means that a judge refrains from handing down a sentence at all.19

The ‘buffer’ period starts from the end of the prison sentence. For example, if you received a 12 month suspended sentence in January 2014 (suspended for 2 years), the buffer period would be 4 years, starting from January 2015. The conviction would become spent in January 2019.

A basic DBS check will disclose any convictions which are unspent. If you do have unspent convictions, the basic DBS check will give details of the date of conviction, the name of the court you appeared in, the offence committed, the date of the offence and the sentence received.

Unspent convictions are those records that have not yet reached this defined time and will appear on a Basic Criminal Record Check. Any conviction, caution, reprimand or warning that an individual may receive is held on their Criminal Record, on the Police National Computer.13

The filtering periods for cautions are two years for under 18s and six years for those aged 18 and over. The filtering periods for convictions are 5.5 years for under 18s and 11 years for those aged 18 and over.4

If you cannot find your police force listed on the ACPO website you can request the records through the Public Access or Data Protection Office of your regional police force headquarters. The application is free and the forms are usually available to download on the relevant police force’s website.