General Types of Sentences in Oklahoma
Sentences generally fall into one of four categories; 1) straight sentence, 2) split sentence, 3) suspended sentence and, 4) deferred sentence.
Straight Sentence: A straight sentence is when a defendant pleads or is found guilty by the trier of fact, the court enters a finding of guilt, which is formally convicting the defendant of the crime, and the defendant is sentenced to serve time in either jail or prison. In this situation the defendant will be taken into custody immediately to begin serving their sentence. This means that the defendant will physically do the time that they have been sentenced to in a correctional facility. This is commonly referred to as "in time".
Split Sentence: A split sentences occurs when a defendant pleads or is found guilty, the court enters a finding of guilt, which formally convicts the defendant of the crime, the defendant is sentenced to serve time in either jail or prison and the sentence is split between "in time" and probation. An example of this would be a defendant who is sentenced to 1 year in jail with 6 months to be served in jail, “in time”, and the other six months is suspended, which means that the defendant will be released from jail after six months to finish their remaining six months on probation. Time spent on probation is commonly referred to as doing time “on paper” or “paper time”.
Suspended Sentence: A suspended sentence occurs when a defendant pleads or is found guilty, the court enters a finding of guilt, which formally convicts the defendant of the crime, the defendant is sentenced to serve time in either jail or prison and that time is suspended by the court allowing the defendant to do complete their entire sentence on probation rather than in a jail cell.
Deferred Sentence: A deferred sentence occurs when a defendant pleads guilty and the court defers the finding of guilt for a set period of time. This means that the court never enters a finding of guilt formally convicting the defendant; instead, the court withholds the finding of guilt during the defendant's term of probation. If the defendant successfully completes their probation the court will withdraw the defendant’s plea of guilty and dismiss the charges against them. The benefit of a deferred sentence is that a defendant has the ability to keep a criminal conviction off their record, and they will end up at the same place as if they had received a “not guilty” at a trial without the risk of 12 strangers deciding their future.
