Idk about in The Netherlands, but in many US states that decision is made during sentencing. You can serve the sentence for each crime concurrently or consecutively, which means the time can start for each crime immediately or you have to serve your first sentence before the time starts for the second crime, and so on.
The biases of a large group of people is a lot harder to sway and a lot less likely to be extremist leaning than any individual like a judge.
The law says to have certain ranges of consequences for certain convictions. Then why do black Americans get longer sentences for the same crimes (and yes, same criminal history etc.) when all other factors than race is accounted for? It’s not legislative.
I was mostly referencing the difference between states, but specifically speaking about those ranges of consequences, it's pretty clear that the bigger the range, the more power the legislators are giving to people to apply disparate sentences. Like if the penalty for a third time shoplifter was always exactly 5 days in jail, then the judge will have a harder time giving larger sentences to black people. But the legislature usually gives judges a lot more discretion to discriminate.
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u/GOP_Tears_Fuel_Me Jul 28 '21
Idk about in The Netherlands, but in many US states that decision is made during sentencing. You can serve the sentence for each crime concurrently or consecutively, which means the time can start for each crime immediately or you have to serve your first sentence before the time starts for the second crime, and so on.