Way too harsh - they should make her do community service and pay it back if she can. They can use that space for the really dangeroius criminals - like armed robbers, drug dealers, etc

She most likely won't serve that much time. Do we know if she has priors?

$500 worth of stuff at CVS? That's a lot of merchandise from a drugstore.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... y_woman_takes_plea_d.html

I don't know the person or the circumstances beyond what I just read but this seams way too harsh a sentence for shoplifting. The basics from the article: 47 year old woman caught stealing at a Union City CVS and has been awaiting sentencing since June 7th. She had pleaded guilty to shoplifting and the judge gave her four years! One year less than the maximum. This for $500 worth of crap? What has it cost the State to keep her in lock up since June? What are four years going to cost? Wouldn't it serve the community better if she had to do community service? This is every kind of wrong.