Various state and jurisdictions may have laws targeting habitual offenders, and specifically providing for enhanced or exemplary punishments or other sanctions.
The nature, scope, and type of habitual offender statutes vary, but generally they apply when a person has been convicted twice for various crimes.
A judge must consider the potential of future harm that could be caused by offenders, the circumstances of their offenses, medical and psychiatric opinion and any other matters of relevance.
The longest nominal sentence on sentence(s) of indeterminate imprisonment is 30 years, currently being served by serial pedophile Geoffrey Robert Dobbs (Queensland), who pleaded guilty to 124 sexual offences and one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice committed against 63 girls aged between one month and 15 years, including five family members and girls under his care as a teacher and youth leader, between 1972 and 2000.
[2] Enacted under President Nicolas Sarkozy,[3] they were repealed under his successor François Hollande,[4] which made this point a part of his platform.
[5] Based on earlier reform plans, the National Socialist regime issued in 1933 the so-called Gewohnheitsverbrechergesetz against 'criminals by habit'; not only was the punishment raised, it also introduced a preventive detention to be reconsidered every three years.
In Hungary, the Fidesz-dominated new parliament changed the Penal Code, introducing a habitual criminal statute for repeat offenders and acts of recidivism[6] on June 8, 2010.
After independence in 1947, the leaders and social reformers paid attention to this problem, and in 1949, the Central government appointed a committee to study the utility of the existence of this law.
The judge is expected to adopt an individualized view and tailor both the decision of awarding an enhanced sentence and the length of it to the case at hand.
Habitual Offender laws, depending on their scope and discretionary room given to judges, can lead to persons being punished quite severely for relatively minor offenses.
In Australia, laws relating to dangerous and Habitual offenders have been criticized as ignoring the principle of certainty in sentencing.
As a result, some defendants have been given sentences of 25 years to life in prison for such crimes as shoplifting golf clubs (Gary Ewing, previous strikes for burglary and robbery with a knife), nine videotapes (Leandro Andrade, 50 years to life for two counts of shoplifting), or, along with a violent assault, a slice of pepperoni pizza from a group of children (Jerry Dewayne Williams, four previous non-violent felonies, sentence later reduced to six years on appeal), some have even been sentenced to life without parole for non-violent crimes (Alice Marie Johnson, and Alvin Kennard[9]).
In the US on March 5, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court held by a 5–4 majority that such sentences do not violate the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment".