In the criminal justice system when a person commits a crime and they are found guilty the judge will sentence them. What does it mean to sentence someone? Sentencing is the standards that is used to determine a punishment for the offender. The sentencing stage is only done after the defendant is found guilty or pleads guilty. However, just cause a judge sentence someone does not mean jail or prison time only. Sentencing can mean a variety of things such as, fines, probation, time in a rehabilitative service, etc. When a judge sentences the defendant, he bases it off the severity of the crime.
The Sentencing Process and Determination There are different options in the sentencing process. In court cases the judge is the only individual that can increase and decrease sentencing time (Find Law, 2018). This is only done in certain situations, which goes back to the severity of the crime and the role the individual played in the crime. For example, if there are two individuals being charged in a murder crime, but there was only one person that did the killing and the other person was an accessory to murder, the person that did shooting will get more time than the accomplice. Sometimes when a person has been sentenced to incarceration time, they maybe also sentenced to paying a fine, or community service (Find Law, 2018). There has been controversial over time on whether if the judge or the jury come up with the sentencing time (Find Law, 2018). However, as stated before the