Three Strikes Law Under Fire | Correctional News

Three Strikes Law Under Fire Correctional News

"SACRAMENTO — Some criminal justice experts are pushing for an overhaul of California’s three-strikes law, saying it has increased incarceration costs, contributed to the state’s prison crowding problem and resulted in harsher sentences than were warranted.

They say now is the time to change the law, particularly because California faces chronic deficits and a court order to reduce its prison population by 37,000 over the next two years.

The Legislature and voters approved three strikes a year after repeat felon Richard Allen Davis abducted and murdered 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993. Polly’s murder outraged the nation when it was revealed that Davis was a repeat felon and had been wanted on a parole violation. The California law, intended to keep habitual violent offenders behind bars, became one of the harshest sentencing laws in the nation.

The law requires enhanced punishment for repeat offenders: Second strikers face double the normal sentence while third strikers can get sentences of 25 years to life, regardless of whether the third crime is violent or serious.

About 41,100 of the state’s approximately 143,500 prison inmates are second and third strikers.

Supporters say it’s crucial to lock up repeat offenders even if their third crime is not serious because career criminals commit the majority of crimes. They say the three-strikes law is sparingly used by prosecutors and has been a major factor in reducing crime rates, which peaked in 1992 and have been declining since.

But critics say that crime rates began falling around the nation before the law passed, and that states without similar laws have similar or even larger declines in crime."