This chapter begins with some background on the way sentencing shifted in the 1970s and 1980s away from an emphasis on rehabilitation to more fixed sentences which gave prosecutors more control over sentencing by the way they charged crimes. The chapter also discusses other factors in the increasing harshness of U.S. law: the politicization of criminal justice issues, the backlash against Court decisions, and the emergence of a powerful victims’ movement. In a country where prosecutors and judges are almost all elected, it has become increasingly difficult to be anything other than “tough on crime.” The chapter discusses some of the harsh statutes enacted under the theories of deterrence or incapacitation.