Harmelin admitted to being a "small time" drug dealer in Michigan. After being caught with 673 grams of nearly pure cocaine in his possession, he was sentenced to life without parole under a Michigan law that mandates such a sentence for those caught with more than 650 grams of cocaine or heroin. The Michigan Legislature passed this law in 1978 to crack down on drug kingpins. Harmelin's case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court where arguments focused on whether life imprisonment for drug law offenses represents cruel and unusual punishment, how drug kingpins should be defined, and whether State legislatures should be allowed to limit judicial discretion by passing mandatory sentences. Mandatory sentence laws in other States that affect drug and repeat offenders are considered, as well as political and rational aspects of mandatory sentences. The refusal of some States to apply mandatory sentences is noted. 3 photographs