[tomjen3]

This probably isn't going to be popular, but once in the west horse thieves where hung - today the car or bike has replaced the horse, and while I understand the supreme court would be against the death penalty for it, why shouldn't that crime carry a very harsh penalty?

I understand that the historical lesson was that the Bloody Code (almost any property crime, even minor ones, were punished by hanging) but it seems extremely counter intuitive that harsh penalties carried openly wouldn't have a deterrence effect. I won't advocate hanging for a simple crime like this, but wouldn't a mandatory minimum of 10 years have some similar effect?