What sentence a criminal gets is often a lottery.
How severe a sentence is for a given crime is very much a function of the judge and his particular circumstances on the day. Forging a check for less than $100 got criminal one 30 days in jail, and criminal two 15 years. Similar factors were found for when a local football team won a game or other such extemporaneous information that should absolutely not be factored in to sentencing. These are examples of Noise.