The Chinese expression “有期徒刑” can be translated into the English “determinate sentence” in policy contexts but is rendered as “sentence” in most judicial contexts. A translation guide for various contexts is provided below.
Contexts
Policy
Translation Equivalents
- Determinate Sentence
Evidence for Translation Approach
According to the National People’s Congress of China:
“有期徒刑是对犯罪分子剥夺一定时期人身自由，并实行强制劳动改造的刑罚方法。”
According to the Cornell Legal Information Institute encyclopedia:
“A determinate sentence is a jail or prison sentence that has a definite length and can’t be reviewed or changed by a parole board or any other agency.”
Analysis
The English expression for determinate sentence occurs primarily in the policy and academic contexts discussing such policy. In different contexts, English implies that a determinate sentence and not life sentence is granted where the term of years is specified by the court. Therefore, only use the above definition when discussing policy, not in judicial contexts.
Judicial
Omit “determinate” where a sentence is given for a term of years by a court.
An expanded version of this article is coming soon.