SINGAPORE Singapore's no-nonsense chief justice Yong Pung How has warned that repeat offenders can expect long jail terms as he defended an eight-year sentence for a one dollar theft. Preventive detention or long jail terms with no early release should not be restricted to offenders with a history of violence, he said. Yong dismissed an appeal by Tan Ngin Hai saying nonviolent crimes are "equally offensive" and deserved stiff punishment as the public had to be protected from repeat offenders, the *** Straits Times *** reported Saturday as carried by Reuters. Tan's eight-year sentence for stealing 1.10 Singapore dollars (U.S. 60 cents) was his latest conviction in a 28-year life of crime which has so far cost him a total of 15 years in jail and 18 strokes of the cane.