Meaning of oversentence | Babel Free

Definitions

To issue a sentence that is harsher than necessary.

transitive

Examples

“The United States currently incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, according to the Population Reference Bureau. John C. Jeffries Jr., today’s morning lecturer, will propose ways to combat a prison system that often “oversentences and overpunishes.””

“Black people in America fit that description of being overpoliced and oversentenced.”

“Machine learning companies are making big bucks selling opaque, secretive sentencing algorithm tools to America's court systems: the vendors of these systems claim that they are too sophisticated to explain, and use that opacity to dismiss critics who say the algorithms oversentence black and poor people.”

“Let's face it: The U.S. went through an ill-advised orgy-like period of mandatory oversentencing. The odious three-strikes laws gave "persistent offenders" — those already found guilty of two or more previous felonies — long and often life sentences for their third offense, even if it was for simply stealing a piece of pizza.”

“"It's about decades of an office that overcharges and oversentences but keeps getting worse results," Conklin says.”

“Judges consistently oversentence people to prove they are “tough on crime,” and do so under the guise that such sentences will deter others.”

CEFR level