Successive sentences in criminal law refer to penalties imposed for several crimes that must be served one after another and not at the same time. Successive sentences are different to concurrent sentences, where penalties for various crimes can be served at the same time.
Consider a person who has been guilty of robbery, manslaughter and assault. The sentences in these cases are 10, 15 and 10 years respectively. When imposing successive sentencing, the judge will add all the three together and will sentence the accused person to 35 years.