sentence

Which translation, when

Why

Sentence divides into punishment and grammar, and inside punishment German separates the finding from the measure. The sanction is die Strafe, Freiheitsstrafe or Geldstrafe, its severity das Strafmaß, and the pronouncing act die Verurteilung inside the Urteil, so to pass sentence is das Strafmaß festsetzen or verurteilen, never einen Satz. The suspended sentence needs care, die Strafaussetzung zur Bewährung, § 56 StGB, suspends an already fixed Freiheitsstrafe, up to one year as the rule and up to two years only where special circumstances justify it, § 56 Abs. 1 und 2 StGB, on a Bewährungszeit, § 56a StGB, so it is a paused defined term, not the open-ended supervision the English word can suggest, and revocation, § 56f StGB, activates the original term rather than resentencing. Life imprisonment carries its own German mechanism, lebenslange Freiheitsstrafe, with release generally reviewable after fifteen years, § 57a StGB, absent the special gravity of guilt. The community sentence has no clean German equivalent, gemeinnützige Arbeit appears mainly to work off an unpaid Geldstrafe, not as a free-standing sanction, so English community-order vocabulary should be described, not translated. And der Satz sits in wait for the literal engine, so the sentence was reduced becomes das Strafmaß wurde herabgesetzt, unless someone shortened a line of text.

Typical mistakes

• Der Satz for a criminal sentence is the grammar drawer, the punishment is die Strafe and its measure das Strafmaß, so to pass sentence is verurteilen or das Strafmaß festsetzen, not einen Satz.
• Suspended sentence is die Strafaussetzung zur Bewährung, § 56 StGB, a paused fixed term up to two years, not open-ended probation, and revocation revives the original term, § 56f StGB, it does not resentence.
• Community sentence has no clean twin, gemeinnützige Arbeit mainly works off an unpaid Geldstrafe, so the English community order is described, not rendered word for word.

What matters

Sentencing reports translate the measure, not the word: the court passed a two-year sentence, suspended reads das Gericht verhängte eine zweijährige Freiheitsstrafe, ausgesetzt zur Bewährung, § 56 StGB, a paused defined term, and any breach triggers § 56f StGB on the original term. Der Satz wurde ausgesetzt would suspend a grammatical clause.

Examples