state is obligated to follow in punishing those who violate its laws.

The fourth principle that guides our review of Appellant's sentence is that such review "should be informed by `objective factors to the maximum possible extent.' " Id. at 1000 (quoting Rummel, 445 U.S. at 274-275). Justice Kennedy noted that objective factors exist to permit review of a sentence of death. Id. at 1000 ("[T]he objective line between capital punishment and imprisonment for a term of years finds frequent mention in our Eighth Amendment jurisprudence."). He observed, however, "that we lack clear objective standards to distinguish between sentences for different terms of years." Id. at 1001. See also Solem, 463 U.S. at 294 ("It is clear that a 25-year sentence generally is more severe than a 15-year sentence, but in most cases it would be difficult to decide that the former violates the Eighth Amendment while the latter does not."); Rummel, 445 U.S. at 275 (the line between death and other punishments is "considerably clearer than would be any constitutional distinction between one term of years and a shorter or longer term of years").

Informed by these four principles, the Harmelin court concluded that a sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole for possession of cocaine was not cruel and unusual. "A rational basis exists for [the state] to conclude that petitioner's crime is as serious and violent as the crime of felony murder without specific intent to kill, a crime for which no sentence of imprisonment would be disproportionate. " Id. at 1004. There is an equally rational basis for the sentence imposed on Appellant in this case:

The purpose of a recidivist statute such as that involved here is not to simplify the task of prosecutors, judges or juries. Its primary goals are to deter repeat offenders and, at some point in the life of one who repeatedly commits criminal offenses serious enough to be punished as felonies, to segregate that

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