Solem v. Helm

463 U.S. 277 (1983)

Under South Dakota Law, Helm, who had written a check from a fictitious account and had reached his seventh nonviolent felony conviction since 1964, was mandatorily sentenced to life in prison with no parole. Solem was the warden of the South Dakota State Penitentiary.

The Court overturned the sentence on the grounds that it was "cruel and unusual." Justice Powell wrote for the five-member majority, while Chief Burger wrote for the four-member dissent. Justice Powell held that Helm had "received the penultimate sentence (South Dakota did not have the death penalty) for relatively minor criminal conduct." Chief Burger concerns: "Suppose several states punish severely a crime that the Court views as trivial or petty? I can see no limiting principle in the Court's holding. "

The language of the opinion, hoewver, refrained from striking down state mandatory sentencing for recidivism statutes.