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Preferred term

sentencing: indeterminate versus fixed  

Definition

  • Indeterminate sentencing refers to sentencing practices where judges incarcerate offenders for statutory ranges of time, generally later determined by a release authority (often known as a parole board). Fixed sentencing refers to sentencing practices where offenders are incarcerated for a legislated fixed length of time and whose release is nonconditional; this may include determinate sentencing, mandatory minimum sentencing, and three strikes law sentencing. [Source: The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encylopedia; Sentencing: Indeterminate Versus Fixed]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/sentencing:_indeterminate_versus_fixed

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