• JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz
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      2 months ago

      That actually has a function. First is as a life sentence usually isn’t actually until you die, but you sit x years (usually 20-30) and then can apply for parole and might get it. Multiple sentences can be set to run one after the other, increasing that time - though usually in that case you just get “life without parole”.

      Another is if you have committed multiple crimes. Even if later they overturn one of them because of new evidence etc, you still have the others left keeping you in prison, instead of having to bring it back to court to figure out if that part was or wasn’t enough to give you a life sentence instead of a shorter one.

      • krazzyk@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I’ll admit I wasn’t aware of the function they played, not from the states.

        The sentences when someone gets a sentence for 100’s, or 1000’s of years, do they have the same function?

        What’s the longest term someone has been given for a single crime, I suspect it is still in the ridiculous range.

        • interurbain1er@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          The sentences when someone gets a sentence for 100’s, or 1000’s of years, do they have the same function?

          Basically the judge saying that no matter how much time credit your get for good behaviour while in prison you’re still intended to spend the rest of your life there.