Legal Definitions - consecutive sentences

Consecutive sentences refer to prison terms that must be served one after another. When a person is convicted of multiple crimes, a judge may order that the sentences for each crime be served sequentially, meaning the second sentence begins only after the first one has been fully completed, and so on. This results in a total period of incarceration that is the sum of all individual sentences, often leading to a longer overall time spent in prison compared to concurrent sentences, where terms are served at the same time.

• Example 1: A defendant is found guilty of both armed robbery and aggravated assault stemming from a single incident at a convenience store. The judge imposes a 7-year sentence for the robbery and a 3-year sentence for the assault, ordering them to be served consecutively.

  Explanation: In this scenario, the defendant will first serve the full 7 years for armed robbery. Once that term is completed, they will then begin serving the 3-year sentence for aggravated assault. The total time the defendant will spend in prison for these two crimes is 10 years (7 + 3).

• Example 2: A person commits a series of financial frauds over several months, targeting different victims in different cities. They are eventually caught and convicted of three separate counts of wire fraud. The court imposes a 2-year sentence for each count, specifying that they run consecutively.

  Explanation: Here, the individual will serve the first 2-year sentence, then the second 2-year sentence, and finally the third 2-year sentence. The total cumulative prison term for these three fraud convictions will be 6 years (2 + 2 + 2).

• Example 3: A person is serving a 5-year probationary period for a prior drug offense. During this probation, they are arrested and convicted of a new crime, grand theft, for which they receive a 3-year prison sentence. The judge orders the 3-year sentence for grand theft to be served consecutively to any time that might be imposed for violating probation.

  Explanation: If the probation is revoked due to the new conviction, and the judge imposes a 2-year prison sentence for the probation violation, the defendant would first serve those 2 years. Only after completing that term would they begin serving the 3-year sentence for grand theft, resulting in a total of 5 years in prison (2 + 3) for the combined offenses.