His mother, Shuang Shuying, 78, is serving two years for "damaging property," sentenced last year after she used her cane to hit a car that she said was swerving toward her.
The rise in mandatory minimum sentences has damaged the integrity of the justice system, reduced the role of judges in meting out punishment and increased the power of prosecutors beyond their proper roles.
Foreign governments, though, quickly issued statements critical of the sentence, saying it damaged confidence in Russia's judicial system and sent a warning to foreign investors.
Some of the posts were evocative: "Not only is that child's life irreparably damaged, but those parents were sentenced to life as well".
Ask any lawyer in China who has represented a private client against any serious civil or criminal charge brought by a state- or CCP-controlled organization and they will tell you that if the matter goes to court, the primary strategy is almost always about damages or sentence mitigation.
Combined, these have led to inflation in sentencing, damaging over-use of custody and staggering increases in the prison population - from just over 60,000 people in 1997 to more than 81,000 today.
Political rhetoric, disjointed legislation and scaremongering in the popular press have led to inflation in sentencing, damaging over-use of custody and staggering increases in the prison population - from just over 60,000 people in 1997 to almost 81,000 today.
Behind the News -- The ruling damaged the government's prospects of sentencing Mr. Moussaoui to death.
Now 52, he is in a wheelchair, his brain so damaged that he cannot utter a simple sentence.
The men, who were in the dock on Wednesday for the first of two days of sentencing, heard how their actions had damaged the lives of their victims and were warned that they faced life prison sentences.
