Advantages And Disadvantages Of Indeterminate Sentencing

As late as the 1970s, indeterminate sentencing for criminal offenses was the standard in the United States ' legal system. A parole board was responsible for determining whether or not a prisoner was eligible for early release based on a variety of factors, including good behavior and signs of rehabilitation. In the late 1970s and early '80s, many states shifted to a system of determinate sentencing; however, in recent years’ states have begun to reassess the value of determinate sentencing, and may potentially return to the indeterminate model. This assignment will examine the distinctions between the two, the advantages and disadvantages to each.

Under a system of indeterminate sentencing, a judge may hand down a sentence for a given crime that offers a range of years, allowing for the possibility of early release, determined by a review by a parole board at certain intervals in the given sentence. While the sentence does have a definite minimum, there is no clearly stated date of release (Portman, 2015). The focus in such a system is on rehabilitation; on the positive side, this grants a mechanism for decreasing overcrowding in a heavily-taxed prison system, and it offers prisoners an incentive to better themselves, learn from their mistakes, and potentially become …show more content…
Both systems have pros and cons, and neither has a perfect success rate, but due to prison overcrowding and other factors, indeterminate sentencing may return in many states. Perhaps the best system, however, could be ultimately be a blending of the two, with indeterminate sentencing for nonviolent crimes, and presumptive determinate sentencing for violent ones. Even this, however, will not be a perfect system, as it is difficult to eliminate signs of racial and socioeconomic biases in judicial