Consent decree

[Oralee]

(US LAW) a legal ruling that consists of a decision in which the two parties (the [plaintiff] and the [defendant]) consent to some action by the defendant in exchange for a suspended sentence. For example, a husband who is a defendant in a domestic violence case may agree to psychiatric [counseling] in exchange for not going to prison for assaulting his wife.
The agreement has to be reached beforehand by the parties and then the court may (or may not) approve of the agreement. When it does, thats a consent decree.