Regulation on decision on sentence for multiple crimes of the Criminal Code of Vietnam

Hello Mr. Dao, for your question, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Decision on sentence for multiple crimes

According to Article 55 of the Criminal Code 2015 of Vietnam on decision on sentence for multiple crimes, when a person is tried for multiple crimes, the Court shall decide the sentence for each of them and combined sentence as follows:

Primary sentence:

- If all of the sentences imposed are community sentences or determinate imprisonment, they shall be combined. The combined sentence shall not exceed 03 years for community sentence and 30 years for determinate imprisonment;

- If the sentences imposed include community sentence and determinate imprisonment, community sentence shall be converted into imprisonment. 03 days' community sentence equals (=) 01 day's imprisonment.

- If the most severe sentence among the sentences imposed is life imprisonment, the combined sentence shall be life imprisonment;

- If the most severe sentence among the sentences imposed is death sentence, the combined sentence shall be death sentence;

- Fines shall be aggregated and shall not be combined with other sentences;

- Expulsion shall not be combined with other sentences;

Additional sentence:

- If all of the sentences imposed are of the same type, the combined sentence shall not exceed the limit imposed by the Criminal Code of Vietnam; fines shall be aggregated;

- If the sentences imposed are of various types, the convict must serve all of them.

2. Combination of sentences of multiple judgments

According to Article 56 of the Criminal Code 2015 of Vietnam on combination of sentences of multiple judgments, to be specific:

- If a person who is serving a sentence is tried for a crime committed before such sentence is imposed, the Court shall decide the sentence for the crime being tried and then the combined sentence as prescribed in Article 55 of the Criminal Code 2015 of Vietnam.

The duration of the previous sentence shall be deducted from that of the combined sentence.

- When a person who is serving a sentence is tried for a new crime, the Court shall decide the sentence for the new crime, then aggregate it with the unserved part of the sentence to make the combined sentence as prescribed in Article 55 of the Criminal Code 2015 of Vietnam.

- If a person is serving multiple sentences that are not combined, the executive judge of the Court shall issue a decision on a combined sentence as prescribed in Clause 1 and Clause 2 Article 56 of the Criminal Code 2015 of Vietnam.

Currently, there are no documents guiding the combination of sentences of multiple effective judgments in accordance with the provision of Clause 3 Article 56 of the Criminal Code 2015 of Vietnam. However, the guidance can be found at Section 5 of the Joint Circular No. 02/TT-LN dated December 20, 1991 of the Supreme People's Court - Supreme People's Procuracy with the following contents:

- In case the legally effective judgments are issued by the same Court, the executive judge of that Court shall issue a decision to consolidate the sentences.

- In case the legally effective judgments are from different Courts but at the same level (same district level in a province or different province, same province, same region, same military zone level), then the executive judge of the Court shall issue the final judgment (in terms of time) on decision on combination of sentences, specifically as follows:

+ If the legally effective judgments are from different district Courts (in the same province or different provinces), the executive judge of the district Court shall issue the final judgment on decision on combination of sentences;

+ If the legally effective judgments are from different regional military Courts (in the same or different military zones), the executive judge of the regional military Court shall issue the final judgment on decision on combination of sentences;

+ If the legally effective judgments are of the provincial Courts (or are of the military courts at the military zone level), the executive judge of the provincial Court (or the executive judge of the military court) shall issue the final judgment on decision on combination of sentences.

- In case the legally effective judgments are from Courts of different levels, the executive judge of the higher Court shall issue the judgment on decision on combination of sentences, regardless the time of issuance of the higher Court’s judgment.

- In case among the legally effective judgments, there is a judgment of a People's court and a judgment of a military Court, the combination of sentences is also carried out similar to the instructions above.

- In case among the legally effective judgments, there is a judgment from a foreign Court that has been recognized by a Vietnam’s Court, and there is a judgment from a Vietnam’s Court, the executive judge of the Supreme People's Court shall decide on the total sentence.

Regards!

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Key word: Combination of sentences | Criminal Code | punishment | judgment | multiple crimes | multiple judments |

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