What is the Difference Between Active and Suspended Jail Time?

When a judge or a court imposes a jail sentence that is suspended, that means that the amount of jail time does not have to be served by the defendant up front. That will be hanging over the defendant’s head while they are on probation. They know that if they violate the terms of probation, then they will have to serve that additional time. Oftentimes, on a first-offense misdemeanor the court might sentence the defendant to 90 days jail, but the execution of the sentence is suspended, so they don’t actually have to do any jail time unless they violate the probation.

Sometimes, for a more serious offense or a situation where the defendant has more of a criminal history, the judge may decide to sentence the person to 180 days jail with all of that suspended except for 30 days. That means the defendant will have to actually serve 30 days and the remaining 150 days will be hanging over their head. They’ll know that the judge has given them some jail time because they think that’s an appropriate punishment in this case, but they’ve also agreed to allow the defendant to serve time on probation and not have to serve that suspended time until and unless they violate probation.