If a defendant is arrested, jailed, and later convicted, what must the court do regarding jail-time credit?

• A. The court may consider jail-time credit at its discretion.
• B. The court is required to give the defendant credit on his or her sentence for the time spent in jail from arrest to sentencing.
• C. The court may give jail-time credit only if the defendant pleads guilty.
• D. The court may grant jail-time credit for only a portion of the time.

Answer: (B)

Time served in jail before sentencing must be credited toward the sentence. When a defendant is arrested and held, the days spent in custody from arrest to sentencing are counted against the sentence the defendant ultimately receives, so the person isn’t punished twice for the same period. The court is required to grant this jail-time credit, regardless of whether the defendant pleads guilty, and the credit is typically equal to the number of days in custody before sentencing. Only unusual circumstances, such as time attributed to unrelated charges, can affect the exact amount, but the default rule is mandatory credit for the time served on the offense being sentenced.