Dictionary

oversentence en · VERB

Etymology

From over- + sentence.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To issue a sentence that is harsher than necessary.
   • The United States currently incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, according to the Population Reference Bureau. John C. Jeffries Jr., today’s morning lecturer, will propose ways to combat a prison system that often “oversentences and overpunishes.” 2013 July 29, Maggie Livingstone, “Jeffries to address ‘oversentencing’ in U.S. justice system”, in The Chautauquan Daily, archived from the original on 06 Dec 2024:
   • Machine learning companies are making big bucks selling opaque, secretive sentencing algorithm tools to America's court systems: the vendors of these systems claim that they are too sophisticated to explain, and use that opacity to dismiss critics who say the algorithms oversentence black and poor people. 2017 July 25, Cory Doctorow, “SLIM: An open, transparent, hand-computable sentencing algorithm”, in Boing Boing, archived from the original on 22 Jun 2025:
   • Let's face it: The U.S. went through an ill-advised orgy-like period of mandatory oversentencing. The odious three-strikes laws gave "persistent offenders" — those already found guilty of two or more previous felonies — long and often life sentences for their third offense, even if it was for simply stealing a piece of pizza. 2018 July 14, Diane Dimond, “Second-Look Sentencing”, in Creators, archived from the original on 09 Apr 2025:
   • "It's about decades of an office that overcharges and oversentences but keeps getting worse results," Conklin says. 2022 July 21, Daniel Walters, “Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell finds himself under attack from three fronts”, in The Inlander, archived from the original on 21 Dec 2025:
   • Black people in America fit that description of being overpoliced and oversentenced. 2016 July 1, Cory Doctorow, “White House plan to use data to shrink prison populations could be a racist dumpster fire”, in Boing Boing, archived from the original on 23 Mar 2025:
   • Judges consistently oversentence people to prove they are “tough on crime,” and do so under the guise that such sentences will deter others. 2023 December 8, Anthony Ehlers, “Who is a political prisoner?”, in Chicago Reader, archived from the original on 23 Aug 2025:

Forms