Sentencing Options

Differences in Sentencing Options (Chart)

How to Use the Sentencing Exercises

Continue to Exercises

1. You may impose a sentence (jail term up to the maximum authorized by the statute, fine, or both) and execute the sentence. By executing the sentence, you order the defendant to serve the jail term or pay the fine, or both. The jail term may be from one day to 364 days for a misdemeanor under the Criminal Code. For a petty misdemeanor under the Criminal Code, the jail term may be from one day to 180 days. For sentencing authority under the Motor Vehicle Code, the Game and Fish statutes, or other statutes, you must consult the specific statutes for the authorized penalties.
2. You may defer a sentence. By deferring a sentence, you do not sentence the defendant but instead reserve the power to sentence at a later time. You must place the defendant on probation for all or some portion of the period that sentencing is deferred. NMSA 1978, Sections 31-19-1, 31-20-5.
3. You may impose a sentence and then suspend it in whole or in part. For example, you may sentence the defendant to 6 months in jail and suspend the execution of it in whole so that the defendant does not have to serve any time in jail. Or you may suspend all but 30 days in which case the defendant must serve 30 days in jail. If you suspend a sentence, you must place the defendant on probation for all or some portion of the period that the sentence is suspended. NMSA 1978, Sections 31-19-1, 31-20-5.
4. You may, without entering an adjudication of guilt, enter a conditional discharge order and place the person on probation on terms and conditions authorized by statute. You cannot use this option for a defendant who is guilty of DWI under the Motor Vehicle Code. You also cannot use this option if the defendant was previously convicted of a felony or previously received a conditional discharge. NMSA 1978, Section 31-20-13. Note that this option is rarely used in magistrate court.

Differences in Primary Sentencing Options
There are several important differences in a magistrate judge’s primary sentencing options, including how the sentence is imposed and the effect of probation revocation or completion. This chart briefly lays out the main differences.

*Under the Motor Vehicle Code, a defendant convicted of DWI who receives a deferred sentence and successfully completes probation is still considered to be a first offender, and therefore would be a subsequent offender if convicted of any future DWI charges. NMSA 1978, Sections 66-1-4.6(c), 66-1-14.16(q).

If you have experienced any unusual or difficult sentencing issues that you think should be covered in the questions, please contact Pam Lambert at plams@unm.edu.

How to Use the Sentencing Exercises
To learn more about sentencing options, try the questions written specifically for magistrate court. Each question asks for a Yes or No response and explains the correct answer. There are six topics plus this introduction, with a total of 47 questions in these exercises.  It should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete all of the exercises.

To navigate through the exercises, you can either choose at random from the table of contents at left, or just follow the instructions at the bottom of each screen and you will be automatically led through the exercises. The exercises are designed so that when you click on an answer to a question in the top portion of the screen, you immediately get feedback in the bottom portion of the screen. If you cannot see all of the questions (or all of the answer in some cases) use the corresponding scrollbars on the right side of the screen to scroll up or down.

If you would like to stop in the middle of the exercises and return later, you can mark your place by adding a bookmark (Netscape) or adding to Favorites (Internet Explorer), located on the toolbar at the top of your browser window.

Continue to General Issues Q&A