prison sentences
Time behind bars
Prison sentences are the periods of incarceration that courts impose on people convicted of crimes.
The length varies enormously depending on the offense and jurisdiction, from days to life without parole.
Judges may hand down concurrent sentences (served simultaneously) or consecutive ones (served back-to-back).
He received a ten-year prison sentence for armed robbery.
The phrase also appears figuratively for any prolonged, confining experience: Working there felt like a prison sentence.
- mandatory minimumsLegally required base sentences
- three strikesConsecutive misses retiring batter
- maximum securityHighest-level prison classification
- behind barsIn jail
- doing timeServing a prison sentence
hard time · thrown in jail · mitigating factors · aggravating factors · family separation · appeals process · community reintegration · plea bargains · judicial discretion · drug courts · criminal statutes · parole eligibility · wrongful convictions · good behavior · early release · retributive justice · social inequality · generational trauma
- prisonsinmates, cells, penitentiary, guards, Alcatraz
- detentionjail, detention centers, captive, detention orders, captivity
- drug crimesdrug trafficking, drug dealing, drug smuggling, drug conspiracy, narcotics trafficking
- wildlife protectionpark rangers, game wardens, rangers, forest rangers, wardens
prison sentencesfines
Monetary sanctions or particles
probation · community service · monetary penalties · parole · suspended sentences
prison sentencesacquittal
Formal clearing of charges
freedom · liberty · dropped charges · dismissal · not guilty verdict
prison sentencesfreedom
Absence of constraint
liberty · release · emancipation · exoneration · acquittal
prison, sentence, prisons, prisoner, prisoners, imprisoned, imprison, imprisons, imprisoning