Why are American prison sentences so long?

The reason prison sentences here in the US are so long is because the average inmate incarcerated for murder, rape, robbery, arson and other asinine, antisocial behavior only serve about 50\% of the time given to them.

What is the average prison sentence in the United States?

Federal court statistics from 2003 show that the average sentence given for offenses resolved by guilty plea was 54.7 months, while the average sentence for offenses resolved by trial was 153.7 months.

Who is serving the longest prison sentence?

Paul Geidel Jr.
Paul Geidel

Paul Geidel Jr.
Born	April 21, 1894 Hartford, Connecticut, United States
Died	May 1, 1987 (aged 93) Beacon, New York, United States
Known for	The longest-served prison sentence in United States history, that ended upon his release (parole). (time served – 68 years 296 days)

Why do prison sentences go over 100 years?

Originally Answered: Why can people be given prison sentences of 100+ years? When people get convicted of multiple crimes the judge has a choice. The judge can choose to sentence the convicted to concurrent or consecutive sentences. Concurrent means that all the sentences will be run at the same time.

What is the average length of a prison sentence?

Te average time served by state prisoners released in 2016, from their date of initial admission to their date of initial release, was 2.6 years. Te median amount of time served (the middle value in the range of time served, with 50\% of offenders serving more and 50\% serving less) was 1.3 years (fgure 1).

What is the most common prison sentence?

The sentence category “> 1 to < 3 years” includes the common sentence type: “Twelve months plus 1 day.”…Statistics.

Sentence	# of Inmates	\% of Inmates
5 years to < 10 years	39,043	26.6\%
10 years to < 15 years	33,192	22.6\%
15 years to < 20 years	18,283	12.5\%
20 years or more but < Life	21,731	14.8\%