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by James D on July 19th, 2005

James D

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What's the point of giving someone two life sentences?

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  • by Answer Guy on July 19th, 2005

    Answer Guy

    Several reasons.

    First, "life" doesn't necessarily mean until they die. For example, in California, a punishment that's listed as "life" means they're eligible for parole in 7 years. Only if the sentence is "life without the possibility of parole" will it actually mean they spend the rest of their life in prison.

    Second, a separate sentence for each crime can give some closure to each victim or victim's family. They can know that the defendant got a life sentence for the crime against their loved one and the bad guy didn't get a "free" crime.

    Finally - and this one is especially true if the defendant gets two (or more) life terms in cases arising in multiple jurisdictions or in multiple cases. Suppose a "life" case was overturned in the appellate court. Without a second sentence in place for the defendant to serve, technically he could be released unless he was being held pending trial on another case. Because appeals can take a while to sort through, it could be better from the prosecution's standpoint to try and get another life sentence while the evidence is still fresh, witness' memories haven't faded, etc. Otherwise, they would have to scramble to prosecute a guy years later when they thought "why bother - he's doing life" on another case.

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