Compare and contrast.

I've posted before about our illogical approach to prison sentencing - here's another example. A man convicted of handling stolen property (not stealing it by the way, just attempting to sell it) has been sentenced to eight years in gaol. Eight years?? Why?? Purely it seems because the stolen item was a rare and valuable Shakespeare first edition. By comparison, the average sentence for the offence of handling is about 12 months, and indeed that for manslaughter is only around five years. Crazy, isn't it?