The controversial California three strikes law: Fair? You decide.
While a majority of states in the U.S. currently have a version of the ‘three-strikes and you’re out’ legislation in place, the California three strikes law is most severe in both interpretation and penalties. Enacted in 1994, Proposition 184, was approved by 72% of California voters. A person convicted of a third felony faces life imprisonment. With the specific provisions of the California three strikes law, certain cases have grabbed headlines nationally and internationally, citing this law as far too severe.
You may think that such repeat criminals with felony convictions, should be incarcerated for life. Many people, when they think of a felony crime, assume this must mean murder, violence or heinous acts have been committed. This is not the case. While other state’s three strike laws require that each of the three crimes are of a violent nature before the life sentence is imposed, California makes it mandatory that a life sentence be imposed on a person convicted of a third felony crime, regardless of whether the third crime was violent or not. The criteria used in the California three strikes law only requires that the first two be violent, or more ambiguously, ‘serious’ in nature.
You may have heard of the California man who was sentenced to life after stealing a piece of pizza from a group of kids. His previous record included one violent assault and four others of a non-violent nature. Does this man truly deserve life in prison? His case caused such an uproar in the public, that the man’s sentence was eventually reduced to six years.
Another problem with the California three strikes law is that the defendant may rack up his quota of three felonies in a single incident. You’ve doubtless heard the phrase, ‘throwing the book at him’. This is a strategy often employed by prosecutors in order to have the defendant agree to a plea deal, where some charges are dropped if the defendant pleads guilty to one or two others. The prosecutor may know that some of the other charges won’t fly in court, perhaps due to lack of evidence. The defendant, faced with a multiplicity of charges, true or not, may realize he’ll do less time by taking the deal. In doing so, he may be setting himself up, in certain respects, for a future of life imprisonment, should he commit another felony.Under the California three strikes law, qualifying felonies include petty theft or possession of a controlled substance. In addition, previously sealed records of juvenile crimes, are now fair game. This is just another way in which a guy stealing a piece of pizza ends up with a life sentence.
Most Americans believe in social justice and rehabilitating repeat offenders of petty crimes. The idea is not to fill prisons, but promote a better society. It seems that more careful legislation could enable justice. You decide.