Indeterminate Sentencing

Indeterminate sentencing emerged during the reformatory era, around 1870. It is based on the philosophies of individual justice and rehabilitation. Under indeterminate sentencing, there is no fixed time that an offender must spend in prison; rather, judges have much discretion in determining the appropriate minimum and maximum sentence. For instance, the judge may impose a sentence of three to five years for a drug offender. Depending on the behavior of the offender while in prison, he or she may be released after three years or later. How soon an offender is released is typically decided by a parole board, and upon return into the community the offender will be under supervision for a certain period of time.

In the United States, indeterminate sentencing was the prevailing philosophy between 1930 and 1970 in all state and federal jurisdictions. During the mid-1970s, the attitude toward offenders and rehabilitation changed. High crime and recidivism rates, disparities in sentencing, lack of fairness, and the belief that offenders were not punished harshly enough led to a rise of “tough-on-crime” policies and a shift toward determinate sentencing, such as mandatory sentence terms based on standard guidelines and “three-strikes” laws. There are, however, signs of a recent shift toward rehabilitation. This shift is reflected in the increasing popularity of drug courts and other programs that divert offenders away from prison and into treatment and rehabilitation programs. One of the main reasons appears to be the great increase in the cost associated with growing incarceration rates and overcrowding in prisons and jails.