Justice done?

[Tjerk Jouwstra]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Cees,

Maar dat is het recht in primitieve landen, en dat geldt (voorlopig nog?)
niet hier.

Groet,

Tjerk
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cees Binkhorst" <cees at binkhorst.xs4all.nl>
To: <D66 at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2003 9:17 AM
Subject: Justice done?


> 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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