Justice done?

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Wat is recht vandaag aan de dag?
Vraag: Wat is het verschil tussen het stelen van drie hamburgers en
het drie keer stelen van _een_ hamburger?
Antwoord: 25 jaar!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/03/05/national1603EST0773.DTL

The Supreme Court said certain repeat offenders may be locked up for
long periods for relatively minor crimes, ruling Wednesday that a
sentence up to life is not too harsh for a criminal caught swiping
three golf clubs.

The court also said a term of 50 years to life is not out of bounds
for a small-time thief who shoplifted videotapes from Kmart. The
tapes, including "Batman Forever" and "Cinderella," were worth $153.

Both men were sentenced under California's toughest-in-the-nation law
for repeat criminals, known as three-strikes. By votes of 5-4, the
court said the law does not necessarily lead to unconstitutionally
cruel and unusual punishment.

Gary Albert Ewing had more than a dozen prior convictions when a
clerk at an El Segundo, Calif., golf shop noticed him trying to make
off with golf clubs stuffed down one pant leg. He was convicted and
sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. There is no possibility of
parole before 25 years.

"Ewing's sentence is justified by the state's public-safety interest
in incapacitating and deterring recidivist felons, and amply
supported by his own long, serious criminal record," Justice Sandra
Day O'Connor wrote in the main opinion in that case. O'Connor listed
Ewing's earlier convictions, which include theft, battery and
burglary.

Like similar laws in 25 other states and the federal government, the
California law was intended to shut the revolving prison door for
career criminals. The laws typically allow a life prison term or
something close to it for someone convicted of a third felony.

In dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer said the Ewing case is a rare
example of a sentence that is so out of proportion to the crime that
it is unconstitutional. He was joined by Justices John Paul Stevens,
David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
[knip]

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