I&#x27;m in the state of Victoria in Australia. While we don&#x27;t have the truly ludicrous sentencing that the US does, we have our own share of tabloid-driven &quot;lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key&quot; vocal idiots who don&#x27;t think of the whole picture. Every sentence is met in the public eye with &quot;that&#x27;s too short!&quot;<p>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&#x27;t just a throwaway line in a paper, but gave context. Turned out that the respondents suggested sentences that were actually <i>shorter</i> than were given in court.<p>The whole &quot;tough on crime, because votes&quot; is a hideous thing, because most voters don&#x27;t think about the big picture.