Lindsey v. Washington

In Lindsey v. Washington (1937) 301 U.S. 397, the Supreme Court considered a Washington law whereby, at the time of the offense, a defendant's term could have been set at any period up to 15 years. At the time of sentencing, the law had been amended to provide for an indeterminate 15-year term. The Supreme Court noted that: "The effect of the new statute is to make mandatory what was before only the maximum sentence." (Id. at p. 400.) Although, the high court went on, "It is true that petitioners might have been sentenced to fifteen years under the old statute" (id. at p. 401), the court continued, however, "the ex post facto clause looks to the standard of punishment prescribed by a statute, rather than to the sentence actually imposed. The Constitution forbids the application of any new punitive measure to a crime already consummated, to the detriment or material disadvantage of the wrongdoer." (Ibid.)