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Ah, probably the brilliant type of thinking that got him wrongly convicted in the first place. Maybe you and the prosecutor can share tips on how to railroad innocent people.

This line of thinking that "more years is better" is the exact reason why we have such problems in our criminal justice system. Adding more years to a sentence doesn't accomplish anything, but it does allow pols to run as "tough on crime." Talk to a legislator away from the Statehouse and away from the media, and nearly all of them will say they think longer prison sentences are counter productive, but it has to be done in order to get re-elected. People are stupid when it comes to this sort of thing.

To point: In my home state of Indiana, 3 grams of coke carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison. 3 grams, for my measurement challenged friends, is about two packets of Equal. Anyhow, so let's say an 18 year old gets busted with his 3 grams of coke. When he's let out of prison, he's 43. He is a convicted felon, so he can pretty much forget about getting any kind of job. More likely than not, he doesn't have any sort of education (although there are some forward thinking programs that offer college degree programs to prisoners), he doesnt' have any marketable skills (like a mechanic, say), he doesn't have any money, he doesn't have a place to live, he may or may not have some friends or family to turn to, but after 25 years in prison, it's sort of unlikely. Is there any wonder the recidivism rate is so high? The system breeds repeat offenders, and this notion that "more years is better" only increases the damage.

Until people begin to think about the consequences of the criminal justice system, it's not going to change. I hate the phrase "tough on crime." It's stupid. A better phrase is that a pol is "smart on crime." Perhaps then we can fix the problems that we have.