In judicial practice, back-to-back life sentences are two or more consecutive

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

s given to a

felon A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

. This penalty is typically used to minimize the chance of the felon being released from

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

. This is a common punishment for a

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one juris ...

convicted of

multiple murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

in the United States. Depending on the jurisdiction in which the case is tried, a defendant receiving a life sentence may become eligible for

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

after serving a minimum length of time, on the order of 15-25 years. If a back-to-back penalty is imposed, the defendant must serve that minimum for every life sentence before parole can be granted. Such a penalty also ensures that even if some of the murder convictions are overturned on appeal, the defendant must still serve the sentences for the ones left standing. Other countries either allow multiple concurrent life sentences which can be served at the same time (e.g. Russia), or allow multiple consecutive life sentences with a single minimum term (e.g. Australia), thus allowing earlier release of the

prisoner A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

. In Canada, since 2 December 2011, it is possible for multiple maximum terms of parole ineligibility to be imposed for multiple first-degree murders. The mandatory penalty for first-degree murder being

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed te ...

with 25 years' ineligibility for parole, the court may stack multiple 25-year terms to account for multiple victims. Before doing this, the judge must consider a jury recommendation to this effect.Laws-lois.justice.gc.ca
/ref> The longest minimum sentence so far is 75 years, handed out to four offenders:

Justin Bourque The Moncton shootings were a string of shootings that took place on June 4, 2014, in Moncton, in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Justin Bourque, a 24-year-old Moncton resident, shot five officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ( ...

(later reduced to 25 years), John Paul Ostamas,

Douglas Garland The disappearance of Nathan O'Brien, Kathryn Liknes and Alvin Liknes occurred on June 29, 2014. Five-year-old Nathan O'Brien and his grandparents, Kathryn and Alvin Liknes, disappeared from the grandparents' Calgary, Alberta home after what police c ...

and Derek Saretzky. The provision permitting this was ruled unconstitutional by the

Quebec Superior Court The Superior Court of Quebec (french: Cour supérieure du Québec) is a superior trial court in the Province of Quebec, in Canada. It consists of 157 judges who are appointed by the federal government. Appeals from this court are taken to the Que ...

and

Quebec Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of Quebec (sometimes referred to as Quebec Court of Appeal or QCA) (in French: ''la Cour d'appel du Québec'') is the highest judicial court in Quebec, Canada. It hears cases in Quebec City and Montreal. History The Court wa ...

in the case of

Alexandre Bissonnette The Quebec City mosque shooting (french: Attentat de la grande mosquée de Québec) was an attack by a single gunman on the evening of January 29, 2017, at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, a mosque in the Sainte-Foy neighbourhood ...

; and the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to ...

dismissed the Crown's appeal in May 2022, finding consecutive life sentences to be unconstitutional.

References

Sentencing (law) {{crime-stub

See also

References