I'm in the state of Victoria in Australia. While we don't have the truly ludicrous sentencing that the US does, we have our own share of tabloid-driven "lock-em

I'm in the state of Victoria in Australia. While we don't have the truly ludicrous sentencing that the US does, we have our own share of tabloid-driven "lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key" vocal idiots who don't think of the whole picture. Every sentence is met in the public eye with "that's too short!" Anyway, the law institute of Victoria did a study where they asked members of the public what an appropriate sentence would be for real cases (without telling them the actual sentence). The kicker was this: the survey included much more detail on how the crime occurred. It wasn't just a throwaway line in a paper, but gave context. Turned out that the respondents suggested sentences that were actually shorter than were given in court. The whole "tough on crime, because votes" is a hideous thing, because most voters don't think about the big picture.