The Supreme Court is evaluating three-strikes-and-you're-out sentencing laws that can result in unconstitutionally severe prison terms. For example, under this sentencing law, a person could receive life behind bars for shoplifting.

The Supreme Court agreeing to look at the sentencing laws is the result of appeals from two thieves in California, who have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 25 years to life for small time crimes that otherwise would have meant just a few months in jail.

The federal government and 26 states presently have some version of a three-strikes law, which will allow a life prison term or something similar for a criminal convicted of a third felony.

Kentucky is not one of those 26 states. Kentucky utilizes a persistent felony offender sentencing law. Someone who is arrested multiple times faces having the severity of their crime increased. For example, the penalty for a Class D felony can be increased to the punishment for a Class A felony, if the person is arrested and convicted multiple times.

Circuit Judge Tyler Gill said Kentucky's judicial system is also unique in its "truth and sentencing" feature. The jury is utilized for much more than deciding a verdict.

A jury in Kentucky sets the penalty for a crime within a range set by law.

Critics of the three-strikes law say the law is too severe, particularly in California, which has the strictest three-strikes law. In that state, a sentence of 25 years to life in prison is mandated for a third felony conviction. Crimes that might be considered misdemeanors may subsequently be considered a felony because of prior convictions, therefore activating the three strikes condition.

The Supreme Court will hear the case of a man who received a sentence of 25 years to life in prison for trying to steal three golf clubs at a golf course in California. The man had four prior convictions. He could have been charged with a misdemeanor for trying to steal the clubs but because of his prior convictions, the prosecution charged him with a felony.

California voters and lawmakers approved this three strike law in 1994 when 12-year-old Polly Klass was kidnapped and murdered.

The man who murdered Klass was Richard Allen Davis, a repeat offender who was on parole at the time.

The law was adopted in other states in the 1990s, when the spread of crack cocaine fed public fears about rising violent crime.