Separate consideration--Single defendant charged with multiple crimes is a legal concept which refers to a situation in which a single accused person is charged with multiple criminal offenses. There are two main types of separate consideration for a single defendant charged with multiple crimes: concurrent and consecutive sentencing. In concurrent sentencing, a defendant is given a single sentence for all the offenses they have been accused of. This sentence may be a prison sentence or a combination of prison and community service. In consecutive sentencing, the defendant is given a separate sentence for each offense. This means that the defendant will serve the sentences for each offense consecutively, with the longest sentence being served first.