United States
In the United States, it is common practice for judges to hand down suspended sentences to first-time offenders who have committed a minor crime, and for prosecutors to recommend suspended sentences as part of a plea bargain. They are often given to mitigate the effect of penalties.
In some jurisdictions, the criminal record of the guilty party will still carry the offence, even after probation is adequately served. In other cases, the process of deferred adjudication prevents the conviction from appearing on a person's criminal record, once probation had been completed.
In the federal system, judges' authority to suspend sentences has been abolished, by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, through the United States Sentencing Commission, and upheld by Mistretta v. United States.
Read more about this topic: Suspended Sentence
Famous quotes related to united states:
“Places where he might live and die and never hear of the United States, which make such a noise in the world,—never hear of America, so called from the name of a European gentleman.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Caroline Nichols Churchill (1833–?)
“We can beat all Europe with United States soldiers. Give me a thousand Tennesseans, and I’ll whip any other thousand men on the globe!”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“In the United States there is more space where nobody is is than where anybody is.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)