what does it mean to serve a concurrent sentence?

Answer 1

For example, let's say that John is on trial for assault, robbery and possession of controlled substances. He is convicted for all three, and during the sentencing hearing, he is given three years incarceration for assault, four years for robbery and one year for possession of controlled substances.

If the judge were to decide that John should serve his sentences concurrently, he would serve each of his penalties at the same time. Since the largest penalty was for robbery, he would serve a total of four years in prison.

However, if the judge were to give consecutive sentences, John would serve a total of eight years in prison: three for assault, four for robbery and one for possession.

CLARIFICATION: Concurrently means that two or more sentences will start and run together at the wame time. Consecutively, means that they will run one after the other.