California. The initiative process permits the electorate to speak for itself, and its voice should be heard, not ignored.

The second principle underlying proportionality review "is that the Eighth Amendment does not mandate adoption of any one penological theory." Id. at 999. The Eighth Amendment permits states to grant "different weights at different times to the penalogical goals of retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation." Id. All are legitimate goals of sentencing, and the legislature has plenary power to prescribe sentencing accordingly.

Consequently, we must accord great deference to statemandated sentences. We should not employ our power to strike down a sentence as unduly harsh when its primary purpose is the incapacitation of an habitual criminal offender. Even were it our collective judgment that the defendant is capable of rehabilitation, that judgment should not trump the voice of the state legislature. California's "three strikes" sentencing regime reflects a judgment that society's interest is best served by imprisonment of repeat felony offenders and a correlative determination that more lenient treatment of such offenders is inappropriate. People v. Cooper, 43 Cal.App.4th 815, 824 (1996) ("By enacting the three strikes law, the Legislature acknowledged the will of Californians that the goals of retribution, deterrence, and incapacitation be given precedence in determining the appropriate punishment for crimes."). It is true that over time public attitudes change. However, it is not our duty to anticipate the future legislative conduct of the State of California.

The third principle cited by Justice Kennedy is that "marked divergences both in underlying theories of sentencing and the length of prescribed prison terms are the inevitable, [and] often beneficial, result of the federal structure." Harmelin, 501 U.S. at 999. It is not, to repeat, the role of the federal courts to establish the appropriate sentences that each

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