An accumulative sentence, also known as a consecutive sentence, refers to a judicial sentencing practice in which a defendant convicted of multiple criminal offences is required to serve the sentences for each offence one after another, rather than concurrently. In other words, the length of time the defendant spends in prison is determined by adding together the individual sentences for each offence. Accumulative sentences are typically imposed when the offences are separate and distinct, and the court determines that justice requires the defendant to be held accountable for each offence separately. This sentencing approach aims to reflect the severity of the defendant’s criminal conduct and to deter future criminal behaviour by imposing a longer total period of incarceration. However, it can result in significantly longer prison terms for defendants compared to concurrent sentencing, where multiple sentences are served simultaneously.
A sentence—a court’s formal pronouncement of the legal consequences of a person’s conviction of a crime—additional to others, imposed on a defendant who has been convicted upon an indictment containing several counts, each charging a distinct offence, or who is under conviction at the same time for several distinct offences; each sentence is to run consecutively, beginning at the expiration of the previous sentence.
A person must finish one sentence before being allowed to start the next one. Another name for accumulative sentence is cumulative or consecutive sentence.
The opposite of an accumulative sentence is a concurrent sentence—two or more prison sentences that are to be served simultaneously, so that the prisoner is entitled to be released at the end of the longest sentence.
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This glossary post was last updated: 29th March 2024.
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