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Opinion of O'Connor, J.
Eighth Amendment in the new context that we are called upon to consider.
B
For many years, most States have had laws providing for enhanced sentencing of repeat offenders. See, e. g., U. S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, National Assessment of Structured Sentencing (1996). Yet between 1993 and 1995, three strikes laws effected a sea change in criminal sentencing throughout the Nation.1 These laws responded to widespread public concerns about crime by targeting the class of offenders who pose the greatest threat to public safety: career criminals. As one of the chief architects of California's three strikes law has explained: "Three Strikes was intended to go beyond simply making sentences tougher. It was intended to be a focused effort to create a sentencing policy that would use the judicial system to reduce serious and violent crime." Ardaiz, California's Three Strikes Law: History, Expectations, Consequences, 32 Mc-George L. Rev. 1, 12 (2000) (hereinafter Ardaiz).
Throughout the States, legislatures enacting three strikes laws made a deliberate policy choice that individuals who have repeatedly engaged in serious or violent criminal behavior, and whose conduct has not been deterred by more conventional approaches to punishment, must be isolated from society in order to protect the public safety. Though three strikes laws may be relatively new, our tradition of deferring to state legislatures in making and implementing such important policy decisions is longstanding. Weems, 217 U. S., at 379; Gore v. United States, 357 U. S. 386, 393
1 It is hardly surprising that the statistics relied upon by Justice Breyer show that prior to the enactment of the three strikes law, "no one like Ewing could have served more than 10 years in prison." Post, at 43 (dissenting opinion) (emphasis added). Profound disappointment with the perceived lenity of criminal sentencing (especially for repeat felons) led to passage of three strikes laws in the first place. See, e. g., Review of State Legislation 1.
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