Can You Avoid Jail Time for a Criminal Conviction?
2 years ago by Brian
A conviction for any serious crime usually means the person convicted faces jail or prison time as punishment for the crime they have committed. The law sets out what punishment a convicted person must face at sentencing, and this is usually a range that considers various factors and considerations.
At JS Defense, we help clients who are facing serious charges in both mounting the most aggressive criminal defense possible and making sure they suffer the least serious punishment permitted should they be convicted, including avoiding jail time whenever possible.
Alternative Sentencing under Minnesota Law
When someone is convicted of a crime, the judge usually has a range of options they can impose as punishment. This could range from probation to long imprisonment, depending on how serious the crime is and circumstances surrounding the commission of the crime, including the convicted person’s record.
In certain circumstances, a convicted person may benefit from alternative sentencing under Minnesota law. An alternative sentence is when, instead of the convicted person doing jail or prison time at a confined federal or state facility, the person is allowed to serve their sentence time outside of state prison or county jail.
The convicted person can be allowed to serve their sentence in the community by performing some type of community service or participating in some rehabilitative program that avoids their doing time in jail or in prison.
Home detention, which is an option for a convicted person to serve their sentence at home, usually with a monitoring device, is also available under alternative sentencing. So is diversion, which is a program that allows eligible defendants who have been charged with drug offenses to have their drug charges dismissed if they successfully complete drug treatment.
Alternative sentencing might be available as part of a plea bargain – meaning that the person facing conviction and jail or prison time must enter a guilty plea, and the type of alternative sentencing they get is negotiated as part of a plea agreement with the government.
Benefits of Alternative Sentencing
- Defendant: The person facing serious jail or prison time benefits in alternative sentencing because they can avoid doing time in jail or prison. This is particularly desirable for those who have committed a crime for the first time and, therefore, they get an opportunity to pay for their crime without having to serve the time.
- Criminal Justice System. While incarceration serves a purpose, it is also the case that jail and prison overcrowding bring with it undesirable consequences, sometimes in violation of the defendant’s human rights not to be subject to inhumane jail or prison conditions. Alternative sentencing allows qualified individuals to serve their sentences outside these incarceration facilities and, therefore, helps in reducing overcrowding and other undesirable conditions.
- Society. Studies have shown that people who are sent to jail often get hardened in their propensity to commit crimes, and many become career criminals getting in and out of jail as if it is calling in by itself. California has one of the highest recidivism rates in the country. Many of these repeat offenders could have possibly benefited by rectifying their ways were they not sent to jail or prison.
Don’t Wait to Reach Out to a Woodbury, MN, Criminal Defense Attorney
If you are facing criminal charges, contact the office of JS Defense, PA, to schedule your consultation and learn how we can help you. Call: 651-362-9426.
