People v. Pedro T.

*1053ARABIAN, J.

—I respectfully dissent. While I am as eager as the majority to deter criminal conduct, imposing on the minor a punishment the Legislature has since abandoned will not accomplish that end. Simply yet ineluctably, nothing can deter a crime already committed; neither can an obsolete punishment prevent future offenses. The Legislature has ended its experiment and allowed the increased penalty for first offense vehicle-taking to lapse, impliedly finding the more severe punishment inappropriate. Nevertheless, purporting to distinguish three decades of decisional authority, the majority…