Criminal Law—Credit for Time Served Denied: <i>State v. King</i>, 180 Neb. 631, 144 N.W.2d 438 (1966)

Although one of the main theories comprising the rationale behind any type of punishment is deterrence, rulings and holdings such as that in the State v. King case put the idea of deterrence to a new and unjustifiable application—to deter convicts from consuming the state's time and money as well as clogging the courts. Such an application presents a dual inquiry: (1) Is additional punishment the proper instrument to be used as the means to achieve the desired end, and (2) does the state have any interest in the likely actual result, namely the preservation of erroneous judgments? Regardless of how it is achieved, either by the courts or by the legislature, Nebraska should establish a system for granting credit for time served, as a matter of law.