Court Opinion

ID: 9693311
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 16:36:27.283095+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:44.636330
License: Public Domain

*177White, J.,
dissenting.
State v. Pierce, 204 Neb. 433, 283 N.W.2d 6 (1979), is overruled and, as the reason for its demise, the majority determines that habitual criminal statutes “ ‘ “are enacted in an effort to deter and punish incorrigible offenders [and] are intended to apply to persistent violators who have not responded to the restraining influence of conviction and punishment.” ’ ” That such statutes are enacted to punish incorrigible offenders is obvious, but the deterrent effect, if any, may as logically be said to consist solely of the loss of opportunity to commit crimes because of the longer incarceration. The majority has chosen to substitute doubtful sociological assumptions (without any legislative history to show that the Legislature shared its view) for the logical construction of a statute as set forth by the majority in Pierce. The majority in Pierce suggested that the prevailing view in this case should appropriately have been addressed to the Legislature. We now have eliminated that cumbersome task from the appellant.
Boslaugh, J., joins in this dissent.