Three-Strikes Law
It is my intention to establish a relationship between the three strikes law and retention rates of prisoners incarcerated for low level offenses. Before I begin to discuss the three-strikes law, it is imperative that I give some background information on sentencing guidelines.
During the 1970 's the incarceration sentences imposed were indeterminate, meaning the judge had the discretion to sentence an offender on a case by case basis and sentencing a person to state prison or county jail was supposed to be to rehabilitate that person so he/she could re-enter society. Often time’s prisoners were sentenced to different amounts of time for similar offenses. As a result of the unpredictability of early release cases and unclear
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In the early 1990’s, two very tragic, yet avoidable events transpired that would put into motion the passing and the implementation of California’s Three-Strikes Law. The first event took place on June 29, 1992; it involved a recent high school graduate, 18 year old girl named Kimber Reynolds. Two men accosted Kimber while on a motorcycle attempting to steal her purse; she was shot in the head with a Magnum .357 and died two days later. The police found the two thieves. The shooter died in a battle of gunfire with an officer. The second robber pled guilty to robbery and was sentenced to nine years, with good time/work time credits he could have gotten out in 50% or less of the sentence. Both these men were on parole with multiple convictions for violent crimes. Kimber’s father called a meeting with local officials and assemblymen to put together a bill that would keep people like the two that killed his daughter in prison for life. On March 1, 1993 lawmakers pushed forward Assembly Bill 971, “which in its original version mandated a tripling of the usual sentence upon the commission of any third felony” (Kieso, Douglas, W., 2005). Furthermore, On October 1, 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was kidnapped from her home while having a sleepover with her friends. The kidnapping was more motivation for Kimber Reynolds’ dad to push AB 971 to reach it’s full potential. The Three-Strikes Law was simultaneously being written. What tipped the scales in the favor of the initiative …show more content…
Early on, even before the initiative passed problems were perceived regarding it’s structure. Unlike every other state that had a Three-Strikes Law, California’s stipulated that for habitual offenders any third felony could put them in for life, this included low level offenses like shop lifting or drug possessions. “During the first six weeks of the new law’s existence, Los Angeles County filed 152 third strike cases and 489 second strike cases” (Kieso, Douglas, W., 2005). Of the 152 Three-Strike cases, 37 were violent felonies, the rest were low level offenses some even as meager as a petty theft. “On July 30th, 1994 Jerry Dewayne Williams, 27, was arrested at the Redondo Beach Pier for taking a slice of pizza from some children ages 7 to 14. He faced 25 years-to-life under the Three-Strikes law. The case would become one of the best-known Three-Strikes episodes and thereafter be referred to as the “pizza slice” crime”, (Kieso, Douglas, W., 2005). The Three-Strikes Law of California was completely backfiring, offenders that were guilty of murder were being sentenced the same way an offender guilty of shoplifting was. Prison populations grew too fast to house all the inmates, overcrowding became worse than it had been in history. California’s budget could not keep up with the immediate need for new prisons, as a result, large portions of the inmate population was sent out of state to try to combat overcrowding. The amount of years an inmate was spending in an institution
In the spring of 1994, California’s Three Strikes was signed into law. It passed with the support of 72 percent of the state’s voters. (Gladwell 236) This law became highly controversial, and on November 6, 2012, voters passed Proposition 36, which amended the law with two primary provisions. Through the controversy, we must take a minute to remember how this law came to be. Mike Reynolds lost his daughter in June of 1992 to murder.
In Mike Anderson’s case, he had committed a serious crime, a crime that is thought by the FBI to occur frequently, be widespread and to do the most harm. Due to robbery being a serious crime the judge that heard Mike’s case had sentencing guidelines that help provide guidance for the judge about sentences for convicted offenders, making them more uniformed based
“Two days after he was paroled, Dotson was arrested for a barroom fight and his parole was revoked” [Innocence Project]. In 1988, Dotson’s had a new
In other words, if you commit a crime the second time, you serve double and if you commit the 3rd time, you get sentenced minimum 25 yrs. in jail, no matter what crime it is. This was a new law implemented after a man who was recently paroled. He had many criminal records such as drug possession and gun abuse. At the time of release, he was on influence and was a drug addict.
Florida courts are plagued with too many people appointed or elected who are entrusted with the sole responsibilities of doing out justice in their public official capacity, who often times suffer from the common syndrome of lacking the ability to separate the administration of justice from the imbuing of their very own interest and passion. Court Judges, prosecutors, and even law enforcement officers very often cannot resist the urge to impart their very own passions and interest into the administration of justice. Far too often an individual’s social, background, and even financial status plays a significant role into the courts official’s decisions and administration of justice. The decision to impose a stiff penalty as oppose to showing
On July 29, 1994, New Jersey resident Megan Kanka was lured into the home of Jesse Timmendequas, a convicted sex offender, with promises of seeing a puppy (Corrigan, 2006). Once she entered his house, she was raped twice, strangled with a belt, and suffocated with a bag (Corrigan, 2006). Timmendequas was arrested soon after and confessed to this crime (Corrigan, 2006). This event outraged Kanka's parents and the surrounding community (Corrigan, 2006). They used this tragic death to create Megan's Law as an addition to the Jacob Wetterling Crimes against Children Violent Offender Registration Act, which required sex offenders to register within their counties (Welchans, 2005).
In 1993, twenty three states and the federal government adopted some form of the three strike law intending to target repeat offenders. The State of Washington was the first to do so; the State of California soon followed with a considerably broader version of the law. Even though, adopted versions of the three strike law vary among the states, the laws generally reduced judicial discretion by mandating severe prison sentences for third (in some instances first and second) felony convictions. 1993 was unquestionably the peak of public concern about crime and the peak of the political response to that concern, resulting in what was a unique punitive period in American history. America’s incarceration rate increase more during the 1990s than
California’s Three Strikes Law was implemented in order to improve public safety. The murders of Polly Klaas and Kimber Reynolds caused the citizens of California to request a reactive measure in order to improve California’s preventive safety measures. Polly Klaas and Kimber Reynolds were both murdered by repeat offenders. The murders resulted in a public outcry and a petition was started in order to improve the sentencing requirements for repeat offenders (Skelton, 1993). The Three Strikes Law became a source of controversy due to the fact that many people argued that the law was in violation of the Eighth Amendment, which states that, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments
Alexander identifies mandatory minimums and three-strikes laws as major contributors to the mass incarceration epidemic. Mandatory minimums are laws that attach mandatory prison sentences to certain kinds of offenses. These laws are controversial among judges, who tend to feel that they reduce judicial discretion and prevent them from handing down proportionate sentences. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has often ruled in favor of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Often ruling that while these sentences were harsh, they were not unconstitutional.
These laws were initiated in the 1970’s and put into action in the 1980’s. Ronald Reagan made these laws after initiating a war on the production, sale, and usage of illegal drugs. These laws insist on 5 years in prison for the first drug related felony, 10 years for the next felony sentencing, and 25 to life for the third felony. A process known as the three strikes rule. This campaign for the war on drugs has dragged out into current times.
As a result of truth-in-sentencing practices, the State prison population is expected to increase through the incarceration of more offenders by keeping them incarcerated for longer periods of time. Abadinsky, Howard, Probation and Parole, Theory and Practice, St. John’s University, Pearson, Twelfth
Defined as a public policy that imposes an outlined amount of prison time based on the crime committed and the defendant’s criminal history, these sentences dictate that a judge must enact a statutory fixed penalty on individuals convicted of certain crimes, regardless of extenuating circumstances. Such laws have removed discretionary sentencing power from judges, instead focusing on severe punishments in line with national drug and crime concerns. While the original goal of mandatory minimum sentences was to deter potential criminals, reduce drug use, control judicial prudence, the policy has had extreme consequences such as sentencing imbalances and
Then during your court proceedings, the prosecutor brings up two prior convictions from thirty years earlier so he can charge you under mandatory sentencing laws. This means a life sentence without parole over a fifty- cent pack of doughnuts. Though this scenario sounds too outrageous to be true, it happened to Robert Fassbender, a California man. States Attorney Yraceburn stated," Because of his (Fassbender) history of recidivism and the number of crimes he 's been convicted of," Fassbinder
The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for several reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. This literature review will discuss the ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system and how mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism has become a problem.
Through the decades, crime and crime control have been analyzed in an attempt to find the causes of crime and decide how to combat them. The United States showed an increase in their prison population in the 1970s when the country turned towards a more punitive justice system. Referred to as just deserts theory of crime, the aim is to inflict as much pain on the offender through harsh prison sentences, in hopes to cause as much pain as the crime they committed. The worse the crime is, the worse the punishment the criminal will endure. The issue surrounding just deserts theory is the vast amount of offenders who return to prison after being released, also known as the recidivism rate.