In
United States law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as v ...
, a split sentence is a
sentence under which the
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 jurisdic ...
serves up to half of his term of imprisonment outside of
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 ...
.
Martha Stewart
Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pub ...
received a split sentence.
The
Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...
' general counsel has opined that when an offender has received a sentence of imprisonment, the Bureau of Prisons does not have general authority, either upon the recommendation of the sentencing judge or otherwise, to place such an offender in community confinement at the outset of his sentence or to transfer him from prison to community confinement at any time BOP chooses during the course of his sentence. A split sentence is only available to defendants who fall into Zone C of the
Federal Sentencing Table
The United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines are rules published by the U.S. Sentencing Commission that set out a uniform policy for sentencing individuals and organizations convicted of felonies and serious (Class A) misdemeanors in the Uni ...
.
A "reverse split sentence" is one whereby the defendant is sentenced to a term of
probation
Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration.
In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...
which may be followed by a period of incarceration or, with respect to a
felony
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 ...
, into community control. Reverse split sentences are authorized by some states.
A 2021 study, which compared individuals given a split sentence to comparable individuals given to a probation sentence, found that split sentencing increased the risk of future prison admissions and reduced the formal labor market employment among whites who were employed prior to their sentencing.
See also
*
Shock probation Shock probation is the US legal policy by which a judge orders a convicted offender to prison for a short time, and then suspends the remainder of the sentence in favor of probation. It is hoped that the initial experience of prison will provide ...
References
Sentencing (law)
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