sentence

1. A grammatical unit that is syntactically independent and has a subject that is expressed or, as in imperative sentences, understood and a predicate that contains at least one finite verb.
2. Law.
   1. A court judgment, especially a judicial decision of the punishment to be inflicted on one adjudged guilty.
   2. The penalty meted out.
3. Archaic. A maxim.
4. Obsolete. An opinion, especially one given formally after deliberation.

[Middle English, opinion, from Old French, from Latin sententia, from sentiēns, sentient-, present participle of sentīre, to feel.]

noun

A judicial decision, especially one setting the punishment to be inflicted on a convicted person: judgment. Slang rap¹. See law.

verb

To pronounce judgment against: condemn, damn, doom. See law.

Definition: punishing decree
Antonyms: accusation, charge

v

Definition: decide punishment
Antonyms: accuse, blame, charge

Term for a complete musical idea (e.g. a self-contained theme); a sentence generally consists of two or four phrases arranged in a complementary manner and ending with a perfect cadence. It serves as an intermediary term between Phrase and Period.

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Most generally, the unit of communication: the smallest entity whose production constitutes a message, such as an assertion, a command, or a question. Given such factors as variations of phonetics or spelling, recognition of two speech acts as the production of the same sentence is already a matter of interpretation, but one that is usually automatic to speakers of the same native language. Grammatically a sentence is the unit whose structure is subserved by other recognized features of a language. The priority of the sentence in much analytic philosophy is summed up in Frege's dictum that it is only in the context of a sentence that words have meaning. The least controversial interpretation of the slogan is that for a word to mean anything is simply for it to contribute systematically to the meaning of whole sentences in which it is embedded. A word is not a thing with its own ‘projection’ onto parts of the world; instead, the presence of a word (or more accurately, a morpheme) is a feature of a sentence, one which plays a role in determining its meaning, and whose variation systematically determines the meaning of related sentences. A more radical extension of the same line suggests that it is only in the context of a whole theory, or world view, or language, that a single sentence means anything. In the terminology of Dummett, according priority to words is semantic ‘atomism’, to sentences, ‘molecularism’, and to anything larger, ‘holism’. See also Duhem thesis.

A sentence to confinement for a fixed or minimum period that is specified by statute.

Determinate sentencing encompasses sentencing guidelines, mandatory minimum sentences, and enhanced sentences for certain crimes. Sentencing guidelines allow judges to consider the individual circumstances of the case when determining a sentence, whereas mandatory minimum and enhanced sentence statutes leave little or no discretion to judges in setting the terms of a sentence.

Determinate sentencing statutes have existed at various times throughout the history of the United States. They became popular in the 1980s when public concern over crime increased dramatically and the public demanded stringent laws to address the crime problem. Operating under the belief that certainty of punishment deters crime, Congress and the states responded by passing laws that dictate specific sentences for certain crimes or for repeat offenders. These laws have been a source of considerable controversy.

Many of the determinate sentencing measures adopted during the 1980s and 1990s were a by-product of the war on drugs. They require strict, harsh, and nonnegotiable sentences for the possession of narcotics. These stringent laws have led to some unintended and inconsistent results. For example, repeat offenders who have information that is useful to the police sometimes receive lighter sentences than do nonviolent first-time offenders in return for their testimony.

Another type of determinate sentence popular in the 1990s is the "three-strikes-and-you're-out" law, which mandates a heavy sentence for anyone convicted of a third felony. For example, California Penal Code, section 667, requires a minimum sentence of twenty-five years to life for a third conviction for a serious felony, and doubles the usual sentence imposed for a crime when it is a second offense. The purpose of the law is to incapacitate repeat offenders and deter others from committing crimes.

Supporters of three-strikes laws maintain that the severity of the third crime is not important. Rather, the pattern of violations indicates a life of lawlessness deserving severe penalty. Critics contend that the punishment is sometimes out of proportion to the crime. They point to the example of Jerry Williams, who was in January 1995 convicted of felony petty theft for stealing a slice of pizza from a group of children in Redondo Beach. Usually, petty theft is a misdemeanor; prosecutors were allowed to charge Williams with felony petty theft because he had previous felony convictions. His 1995 conviction triggered the three-strikes law and cost him an automatic sentence of twenty-five years to life. A similar case involved Steve Gordon, who turned to petty crime to support his drug habit after he was fired from his job in 1985. Gordon was convicted of stealing $200 from the cash register at a fast-food restaurant and of snatching a purse, and then, in March 1994, of attempting to steal a wallet. This third conviction triggered the mandatory minimum sentence of twenty-five years to life.

Many judges oppose determinate sentencing when it prescribes mandatory minimum terms. A 1994 survey of federal judges conducted by the American Bar Association found that a majority strongly supported repealing most or all mandatory minimum sentences. In March 1994, during a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee on the Supreme Court's budget, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, of the Supreme Court, called mandatory sentence legislation imprudent, unwise, and potentially unjust. Most judges feel that sentencing guidelines, which prescribe sentences that may be altered in accord with aggravating or mitigating circumstances, are preferable to mandatory minimums.

Some judges have attempted to circumvent determinate sentences, but their efforts have failed. In July 1994, Judge Lawrence Antolini, of the Sonoma County, California, Superior Court, challenged California's three-strikes law by sentencing Jeffrey Missamore, a three-time offender, to probation and drug treatment instead of the twenty-five years to life mandated by the statute. The state petitioned the appellate court to overturn Antolini's probation order. The Superior Court of Sonoma County granted the writ, stating that it is not the role of the judiciary to question the appropriateness of the public policy decisions embodied in the three-strikes law. The court held, "If people (including judges) feel those provisions … lead to unfair results, the law can be changed" (People v. Superior Court, 45 Cal. Rptr. 2d 392).

Another divisive issue in the determinate sentencing debate is the disparate effects of new laws concerning cocaine. The penalties for the possession of crack cocaine are substantially higher than those for powder cocaine. Crack is a less expensive form of cocaine that is smoked rather than inhaled. Because crack is less expensive than powder, it is used more widely by young people, poor people, and members of minority groups — who constitute a disproportionate number of those incarcerated on drug charges. Critics have attacked the enhanced and mandatory penalties for possession of crack as discriminatory.

Whether determinate sentences work to deter crime is an open question. Both sides of the debate summon statistical evidence to support their position. Opponents claim that from 1986 to 1991, when determinate sentencing was used extensively, violent crime continued to increase, even as the rate of incarceration rose dramatically. Supporters counter that the FBI's Uniform Crime Index shows a four percent drop in serious crime between 1989 and 1993, suggesting that perhaps stringent sentencing is beginning to affect the crime rate. Supporters also cite statistics indicating that the number of federal drug convictions doubled from 1985 to 1993; opponents counter that most of those convicted were first-time offenders or low-level drug dealers, not the powerful drug kingpins the laws were designed to ensnare.

Look up sentence in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Sentence or sentencing may refer to:

• Sentence (linguistics), a grammatical unit of language
• Sentence (mathematical logic), a formula with no free variables
• Sentence (music), the smallest period in a musical composition
• Sentence (law), the final act of a judge-ruled process
• "Sentencing" (The Wire episode), the thirteenth episode of The Wire
• Sentences, a 12-century book of theology by Peter Lombard
• Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm, an autobiographical graphic novel by the MF Grimm, published by Vertigo in 2007

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - sætning, dom, straf, strafudmåling
v. tr. - dømme, afsige dom over, domfælde, sentens

idioms:

• under sentence of    dømt

Nederlands (Dutch)
vonnissen, zin, vonnis

Français (French)
n. - (Jur) peine, condamnation, (Ling) phrase
v. tr. - condamner

idioms:

• under sentence of    condamné à

Deutsch (German)
n. - Satz, Strafe, Urteil
v. - verurteilen

idioms:

• under sentence of    verurteilt zum

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - καταδίκη, ποινή, (γραμμ.) περίοδος, πρόταση
v. - καταδικάζω, απαγγέλλω ή επιβάλλω ποινή

idioms:

• under sentence of    καταδικασμένος σε

Italiano (Italian)
giudicare, periodo, frase, sentenza

idioms:

• pass sentence on    sentenziare
• pronounce sentence    sentenziare
• under sentence of    sentenziato a

Português (Portuguese)
n. - sentença (f), oração (f) (Gram.)
v. - sentenciar

idioms:

• pass sentence on    anúncio da sentença no tribunal
• pronounce sentence    pronunciar a sentença
• under sentence of    estar sob sentença de

Русский (Russian)
приговор суда, мера наказания, предложение, сентенция, приговаривать, обречь

idioms:

• pass sentence on    вынести приговор
• pronounce sentence    объявить приговор
• under sentence of    приговоренный к

Español (Spanish)
n. - oración, frase, sentencia, fallo, veredicto
v. tr. - sentenciar, condenar

idioms:

• under sentence of    estar condenado a

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - mening, dom, utslag, sentens, tänkespråk
v. - döma, avkunna dom över

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
句子, 课刑, 判决, 宣判, 命题, 使遭受

idioms:

• under sentence of    被判处...徒刑

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 句子, 課刑, 判決, 宣判, 命題
v. tr. - 宣判, 使遭受, 判決

idioms:

• under sentence of    被判處...徒刑

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 문장, 판결, 격언
v. tr. - ~에게 판결을 내리다, 형을 선고하다

idioms:

• under sentence of    ~의 선고를 받다, ~형에 처해지다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 文, 判決, 刑
v. - 判決を下す, 宣告する, 追いやる

idioms:

• suspended sentence    執行猶予

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) جمله, حكم قضائي بعقوبه (فعل) يحكم على‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮משפט (בתחביר), פסק-דין, עונש, גזר דין‬
v. tr. - ‮דן, פסק דין, גזר דין‬

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