No, because you see, our Supreme Court has said time and time again that sentencing is an individualized process, and section 12—cruel and unusual—looks at the individual, either the offender or a reasonable hypothetical, and compares culpability with that person's circumstances. It is individual.
So when you've got a process like the one you have now, which includes this safety valve for the 15% who can show a change of circumstances in relation to culpability and therefore essentially be resentenced by a 12-person jury, the Supreme Court says “I buy that system; it's okay.”
If you take away the safety valve, it's a different system. So you're completely wrong when you say it's counterintuitive.