Does a mandatory de facto life sentence for mere possession of child pornography images, when the person has never directly abused or attempted to abuse a child, violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment?

QUESTION PRESENTED Arizona’s criminalization of possession of child pornography makes each image possessed as the unit of prosecution, and the sentence for each offense is ten to twenty-four years with no possibility of early release. When the child depicted in the image is under age 15, Arizona punishes the offense as a “dangerous crime against children,” which requires the sentence for the offense to be run consecutively to all other sentences. In combination, this means that any person who possesses more than a handful of images will receive a mandatory cumulative sentence that far exceeds his life span, even though the person never took part in the abuse of any child. The question presented is: Does a mandatory de facto life sentence for mere possession of child pornography images, when the person has never directly abused or attempted to abuse a child, violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment?