I just saw an article today that said someone is serving a life sentence plus 156 years. But what is the purpose of that? Once that person dies in prison, they’re not going to keep the rotting corpse there for another 156 years…so I don’t understand. Is it just to guarantee they never get parole? If so, why not just sentence them to “life in prison, without the possibility of parole?” I’ve also heard “two back-to-back life sentences…” this isn’t physically possible, but I’m guessing it would be for the same reason?
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They have been currently convicted of lots of crimes however if one or more of those are overturned on appeal they still have to serve out the sentence on what they have been convicted of.
The justice system is based on cold logic rather than emotion. Your sentence is a transaction based on debt owed due to your crimes. If I kill 4 people and each murder dictates a 60 year sentence, then my bill owed is 240 years.
Lets think of it like money and see if it makes more sense. On my way home from work I plow into a $3 million dollar Rolls Royce, totally it, and killing me. I’m dead. The value of my estate is exactly all of the money I will ever have. It’s no where near enough money to replace the car. When the car’s owner sues my estate though, they’ll sue for the full value because that’s what it’s worth. They won’t write up just “give me all of Alek’s money”.
It ensures that they’ll spend the rest of their life in prison even if they get a few years off of their sentence for good behavior.
I just like to imagine that they have freezer rooms in prisons full of bodies waiting to be disposed of in X years.
The most likely reason is that they were guilty of more than one offense. A single offense wouldn’t be life + 156 years.
You have to give each offense its own sentence. If it was all a single sentence, and then later proven that the person didn’t commit one of 5 offenses, what do you do then?
If they’re convicted of multiple offenses the total sentences for all of those crimes are added together, which is how you end up with multiple life sentences or life sentences + some numbers of years. The practical reason for this is that if they manage to appeal and get some of the charges overturned they will still have to serve the remaining ones.
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