Mandatory sentencing laws provide that people convicted of particular crimes receive particular sentences. Examples include laws specifying that people convicted of selling HEROIN or COCAINE within 1,000 yards of a school receive at least a three-year prison term, or that people convicted of selling more than four ounces of heroin or cocaine receive at least a five-year prison term. The latter are referred to as mandatory minimum sentences. Some mandatory sentencing laws require life sentences. A Michigan law, for example, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld against a claim that mandatory life sentences constitute "cruel and unusual punishment" in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, required life sentences without possibility of parole for people convicted of possessing more than 650 grams of cocaine (Harmelin v. Michigan, 49 Cr.L. 2350 [6/27/91]). An Alabama law required life sentences for people who, having previously been twice convicted of...