ipl-logo

Three-Strikes Law

1149 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Overcrowding in the us prisons

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 …show more content…

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

Show More
Related
1346 Words | 6 Pages

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

Read More
226 Words | 1 Pages

“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

Read More
2359 Words | 10 Pages

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).

Read More
834 Words | 4 Pages

Following a jury trial in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, appellant, James Davis (“Davis”), was convicted of one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon, three counts of use of a handgun in a felony or crime of violence, three counts of first-degree assault, and one count of first-degree burglary. For his offenses, Davis was sentenced to a total of thirty years’ incarceration. Davis appealed his conviction and the computation of his sentences. We affirmed the judgments in an unreported opinion. Davis v. State, No. 2509, Sep. Term 2003 (Md. Ct.

Read More
1119 Words | 5 Pages

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

Read More
1014 Words | 5 Pages

The author has included two research questions: whether or not the original intent of the Three Strikes law is understood and whether the law has effectively reduced crime and recidivism rates. The method used in the article is case study whereby the author focuses on the California version of the Three Strikes law. In addition, the article employs a multidisciplinary approach in analyzing the case study including history, political science and sociology. The author found out that the California Three Strikes Law has failed to meet its initial goal of reducing the number of repeat offenders in the prison system.

Read More
1561 Words | 7 Pages

Three-strike laws are not not the same in every state but it’s the same concept overall. Any person that commits more than 2 offenses, usually a felony but not always, automatically gets a harsher sentence. This harsher sentence is usually some form of a life sentence. This is extremely beneficial to private prisons because that is a huge increase in money. More time, more

Read More
553 Words | 3 Pages

Next next loop hole to keep African Americans was the three strike rule created by Bill Clinton which states that if a person committed three major crimes their prison sentence increases to a life sentence . At this point the rate of blacks in prison was six time higher than whites because of the life sentence . Bill and his stated in a press conference that drugs were turning African Americans in wild animals yet they were helping the people get addicted to them. Prisons were becoming overcrowded where the system could not house that many people so they had to be

Read More
1509 Words | 7 Pages

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

Read More
1102 Words | 5 Pages

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

Read More
1798 Words | 8 Pages

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

Read More
1728 Words | 7 Pages

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.

Read More
840 Words | 4 Pages

How Sentencing Affects the State and Federal Prison Systems The United States

Read More
390 Words | 2 Pages

In other words, mandatory sentencing for repeating offenders that have not learned their lesson and also so they stop committing crimes in the street since they are imprisoned. What the law basically states is that if you are a felon that has two felonies in their record and gets charged with a third felony, you must received the maximum sentence for the type of felony. With this law follows a lot of controversy. Some people believe that it is too harsh and can ruin a person's life. Others believe it is well deserved as you get 3 chances to better yourself.

Read More
1782 Words | 8 Pages

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.

Read More

More about Three-Strikes Law

Related Topics

Open Document