Meanwhile, all the time, the court has had the ability to do everything the Opposition might want in terms of throwing the book at serious offenders. They have all the power in the world to impose maximum sentences, or deterrent sentences, or any combination of sentences. The difference is that when a judge does it in anything else than a three-strikes situation they are enabled to do it with a full grasp of the circumstances of the case, in a system where proportionality is the watchword. When it's a three-strikes offence, all sense of proportion, or, indeed, rationality, is out the window in favour of the good old knee-jerk reaction. 