On Dec 28, 2:30*pm, D1039 wrote:

Remembering of course that the judiciary follow sentancing guidelines,
their deliberations on which are published and are subject to appeal
(inckuding in cases of leniency)

Indeed, every time a survey is done in which people are asked what
they think is a suitable sentence for a particular crime and what they
think is the typical sentence for a particular crime, _both_ estimates
turn out to be less than the average sentence. People massively
underestimate both the rate of imprisonment and the length of prison
sentences. See for example http://goo.gl/VU7I2

ian