This was a dreadful crime and a severe sentence is necessary.

这是一种骇人听闻的罪行，重判是必要的。

《柯林斯英汉双解大词典》

Within the traditional system of five punishments, banishment was a severe sentence second only to a sentence of death.

在传统的五刑制中，流刑处于降死一等的重刑地位。

youdao

He avoided a more severe sentence.

他避免了另一种更为严重的处罚。

youdao

Mr Previti might have had a more severe sentence but for a loophole in the law.

ECONOMIST: An illegitimate fix

More serious crimes requiring a more severe sentence will still be tried in the borough's central criminal court.

ECONOMIST: Dispensing justice

Over-prosecution is a tool prosecutors often use to get criminal defendants to plead guilty rather than risk a more severe sentence if they go to trial.

FORBES: Aaron Swartz' Suicide Forces Hard Questions About The Criminal Justice System