It looks to me as if the 'headline' sentence figures should be looked at more from the offender's viewpoint -- so a '10 year' sentence means "after 10 years you will be out of the clutches of the criminal justice system completely, parole and all", and 'life' means "potentially we may never let you go". They don't seem to be intended to specify the minimum or average jail term.
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Date: 2006-06-13 12:14 am (UTC)It looks to me as if the 'headline' sentence figures should be looked at more from the offender's viewpoint -- so a '10 year' sentence means "after 10 years you will be out of the clutches of the criminal justice system completely, parole and all", and 'life' means "potentially we may never let you go". They don't seem to be intended to specify the minimum or average jail term.