Legal Definitions - indeterminate sentencing

Indeterminate sentencing is a practice in which a court does not impose a specific length of time for a criminal sentence. Instead, the court sets a range for the minimum and maximum term, leaving the exact length of the sentence to be determined based on the prisoner's behavior and rehabilitation progress while in prison. This type of sentencing is also known as indefinite sentencing.

For example, a court may sentence a criminal to a term of 5 to 10 years in prison. The actual length of the sentence will depend on the prisoner's conduct and progress towards rehabilitation while serving time.

Indeterminate sentencing is different from determinate sentencing, which is a fixed sentence for a specific length of time. It is also different from mandatory sentencing, which is a sentence set by law with no discretion for the judge to individualize punishment.

Other types of sentencing include:

• Concurrent sentences: Two or more sentences of jail time to be served simultaneously.
• Consecutive sentences: Two or more sentences of jail time to be served in sequence.
• Conditional sentence: A sentence of confinement if the defendant fails to perform the conditions of probation.
• Suspended sentence: A sentence postponed so that the defendant is not required to serve time unless he or she commits another crime or violates some other court-imposed condition.

These different types of sentencing illustrate the various ways in which a court can impose punishment on a criminal defendant. Indeterminate sentencing allows for flexibility in determining the length of a sentence based on the prisoner's behavior and progress towards rehabilitation, while other types of sentencing may be more rigid in their application.