Subject: Re: It's time to ban flag burning
...even though no one actually thinks that shoplifting a video itself warrants a 50 year sentence.

Also, remember in the pride flag case, there was also a Hate Crime. Hate Crime laws are used to enhance criminal penalties and to deter bias-related violence or intimidation, and to protect vulnerable groups. This was probably a factor, along with the three-strike law, in a heavy penalty.

There was apparently no contrition in court, either. Judges and juries tend not to leniency when a guilty defendant is not only unrepentant, but defiantly so.

Pete