In criminal law

Criminal law

Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...

, "time served" describes a sentence

Sentence (law)

In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...

 where the defendant

Defendant

A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute...

 is credited immediately after the guilty

Guilt (law)

In criminal law, guilt is entirely externally defined by the state, or more generally a “court of law.” Being “guilty” of a criminal offense means that one has committed a violation of criminal law, or performed all the elements of the offense set out by a criminal statute...

 verdict

Verdict

In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. The term, from the Latin veredictum, literally means "to say the truth" and is derived from Middle English verdit, from Anglo-Norman: a compound of ver and dit In law, a verdict...

 with the time spent in remand

Detention of suspects

The detention of suspects is the process of keeping a person who has been arrested in a police-cell, remand prison or other detention centre before trial or sentencing. One criticism of pretrial detention is that eventual acquittal can be a somewhat hollow victory, in that there is no way to...

 awaiting trial

Trial (law)

In law, a trial is when parties to a dispute come together to present information in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court...

. The time is usually subtracted from the sentence, with only the balance being served after the verdict. For example, the final verdict in the trial of Louise Woodward

Louise Woodward

The Louise Woodward case concerned a young English au pair convicted, at age 19, of the 1997 involuntary manslaughter of eight-month-old Matthew Eappen while he was in her care in his home in Newton, Massachusetts, in the United States...

 was that she was guilty, and her sentence was "time served" (in her case 279 days). In this case, this meant she was immediately released.

Time served simply refers to "the period a criminal defendant has been in jail, while awaiting either bail or awaiting trial." Often, as a matter of law, a judge will give a defendant 'credit for time served,' particularly when sentencing for misdemeanors. Example: Johnny Jumpstart was arrested for drunk driving and spent the night in jail before he was released on his own recognizance. Since the minimum sentence in his state was 48 hours, the judge will sentence him to that time, less 14 hours for time served. After lengthy waits in jail before trial, 'time served' may become very important to the defendant."

In some cases, time served may earn credit at a different rate than regular incarceration. For example, the defendant may get credit for a multiple of the amount of time spent in remand, say 2 times, so that 2 months in remand gives 4 months credit toward the sentence.

Time served is also a term used to indicate a craftsman has spent the required period as an apprentice.