Legal Dictionary
Main Entry:
sen·tencePronunciation:
'sent-&ns, -&nzFunction:
nounEtymology: Old French, opinion, judicial sentence, from Latin
sententia, ultimately from
sentire to feel, think, express an opinion
1 : a judgment formally pronouncing the punishment to be inflicted on one convicted of a crime
2 : the punishment that one convicted of a crime is ordered to receive
concurrent sentence : a sentence that runs at the same time as another
consecutive sentence : a sentence that runs before or after another
cumulative sentence : CONSECUTIVE SENTENCE in this entry;
also : the combination of two or more consecutive sentences
death sentence : a sentence condemning the convicted defendant to death
de·ter·mi·nate sentence /di-'t&r-m&-n&t-/ : a sentence for a fixed rather than indeterminate length of time
general sentence : a sentence that does not allocate the punishment imposed for the individual counts on which the defendant was convicted
NOTE: General sentences are impermissible.
in·de·ter·mi·nate sentence /"in-di-'t&r-m&-n&t-/ : a sentence of minimum and maximum duration with the exact length to be later determined (as by a parole board)
life sentence : a sentence of imprisonment for the rest of the convicted defendant's life
mandatory sentence : a sentence that is specifically required or falls within a range required by statute as punishment for an offense
mandatory sentence for distributing drugs near a school>
presumptive sentence
: a sentence that is the presumed punishment for an offense and is subject to the upward or downward adjustment of its severity depending on aggravating and mitigating factors
split sentence
: a sentence of which part is served in prison and the other suspended and usually replaced by probation
suspended sentence
: a sentence the imposition or execution of which is suspended by the court
[sen-tns] 
noun, verb, -tenced, -tenc⋅ing.