One thing that disturbs me, after reading the comments here, and after hearing attitudes expressed by people in general: I think normal citizens massively under

One thing that disturbs me, after reading the comments here, and after hearing attitudes expressed by people in general: I think normal citizens massively underestimate how harsh these sentences are. Look around at your life and picture how much damage might be done by just a 6 month stint in jail. You would likely lose your job, you might lose your house, your kids. Even a month in jail would be a serious bummer for most of the people posting here. Now, think, really picture, what a 3 year sentence would do. How hard it would be to recover from losing those years. Now picture a 5 year, 7 year, 10 year, 15 year sentence. There is a reason Norway generally restricts its sentences to 21 years for even the most heinous crimes. The sentencing here in the US is truly draconian. It only seems proportional because we are measuring relative to what is already going on, so in context this stuff seems "not that bad." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment_in_Norway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment_in_Norway