Indeterminate Sentences

Determinate versus Indeterminate Sentencing

A defendant sentenced to “thirty days in county jail” or “five years in state prison” has received a determinate sentence. Defendants who receive determinate sentences know the maximum period of incarceration as soon as they are sentenced, and in most cases even before sentencing, because the crime determines the sentence. They may get out earlier, however, because of parole, because they have earned “good time” credits, or because the jail or prison is overcrowded and their beds are needed for new inmates.

In states that require judges to give indeterminate sentences, the defendant has no idea, even after sentencing, how long his or her sentence will actually be. The punishment is not known because it depends on future decisions by a parole board. For example, a defendant sentenced to serve “not less than two nor more than twenty years in the state penitentiary” has received an indeterminate sentence. As a general rule, indeterminate sentences are imposed only on people who are sentenced to state prison after being convicted of a felony.

In current practice, release on parole from an indeterminate sentence is initiated by the recommendation of prison staff personnel, field parole officers, and the parole authorities. Evaluation of the offender's conduct in prison, life history, prospects in the community, general personality, and attitude, together with the nature [Page 876]of the original offense, determines his or her suitability for parole. With indeterminate sentencing, two individuals convicted of identical crimes may be treated differently depending on their character, their life histories, or their motives and intentions. Determinate sentencing, on the other hand, is supposed to treat identical crimes in an identical fashion. There is little or no discretion in determinate sentencing; there is considerable discretion in indeterminate sentencing.

History of Indeterminate Sentencing

The word parole means “word” in French, and its use in connection with the release of prisoners was derived from the idea that prisoners (usually prisoners of war) could be released on their word of honor. A captured knight in the Hundred Years'War between England and France (1338–1453), for instance, could be released in return for a promise not to run away and rejoin his own side; or, he could promise to return by a certain date or pay a ransom.

...