But the juvenile offender law, it turned out, is not applied very often.

Under the state's habitual offender law, he was sent away after stealing a $60 bicycle.

Under New York's habitual offender law, he was sentenced to 25 years to life.

But in the meantime, state courts struck down the mentally disordered offender law.

Five of the six youths charged in the attack are 14 or 15 years old and will be tried under the juvenile offender law.

The sentences under the juvenile offender law, however, are lower than those given to people 16 years or older for the same crimes.

In addition, 13,075 drug offenders were incarcerated under the second-felony offender law, at an annual cost of more than $390 million.

These early habitual offender laws did not provide for mandatory sentencing.

Twenty-four states have some form of habitual offender law.

They are formally known among lawyers and legal academics as habitual offender laws.