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5 By prohibiting multiple punishments for a single criminal act Penal Code section 654. affords protection beyond and different from that given by either the constitutional proscrip-. tion of subsequent jeopardy or the implementation of that doctrine by Penal Code section 1023..
People are given a sentence for each charge they are guilty of. If you commit 4 murders you can be sentenced to 4 separate life sentences. It's largely redundant but allows prosecutors to stack charges against people and allow justice in each of the cases of the criminals victim.