Prepaid Punishment

When a crime is committed, the legal ramifications are somewhat of a long drawn-out process from the time that it happens to the day of sentencing. This can prove to be inconvenient in circumstances where the accused has made plans that conflict with the various court dates, appeals, continuances, and so-forth.

So lets say that the offender does not want to miss certain holidays. birthdays, etc. with his family over a crime that carries a 150-day punishment. Prepaid punishment will allow him to start serving time immediately until his court date. If he is found guilty, he continues to serve time until the sentencing date. The accused gets credit for the time served and remains in jail for the balance of the time unless, of course, he's served more time than he has been sentenced.

This also works for students with bad grades. If they know that they are going to get grounded, they can start 2 weeks before report cards are released and then when the grades arrive, they might be able to get off of punishment in time for the upcoming party that weekend.