Sentence examples for increase a sentence from inspiring English sources

But the guidelines also empower the judge to increase a sentence, based upon the judge's conclusions that the crime may have been more serious than the jury found.

The right to a jury trial, the majority said, does not allow a judge to increase a sentence based on factual findings made only by the judge.

That decision, issued in June 2000, held that any factors that increase a sentence above the ordinary maximum must be charged in the indictment and proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

(Other aggravating factors, such as a history of prior convictions, can increase a sentence; mitigating factors, such as having a minimal role in the offense in question, can reduce a sentence).

In that ruling, the justices held that factors that increase a sentence beyond the ordinary maximum must be specifically charged in the indictment and not left to a judge's discretion.

Last month the United States Supreme Court struck down provisions of the state's Ethnic Intimidation Act, or hate crimes law, that allowed a judge to increase a sentence in cases in which he or she found any sort of bias as an aggravating circumstance.

That ruling, which led directly to the Ring decision, held that juries, and not judges, have to determine any fact that increases a sentence above the statutory minimum.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, the judge makes a number of crucial findings that do not necessarily bring a sentence above the statutory maximum, but that can end up increasing a sentence sharply within the statutory range.

When the Supreme Court ruled in a hate-crime case two years ago that juries, rather than judges, had to find "any fact" that increased a sentence beyond the statutory maximum, it tried to exclude the death penalty from that sweeping decision.

Thursday's decision requires any factor that increases a criminal sentence, except for prior convictions, to be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Supreme Court decision, issued last Thursday and known as Blakely, requires any factor that increases a criminal sentence, except for prior convictions, to be admitted by the defendant or proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.