Three Strikes Law Research Paper

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

The law was designed to reduce the amount of repeat offenders in the community and the rate of violent crimes. Originally, the policy had the support of California’s citizens and legislators. However, the public’s support wavered after many individuals who were accused of nonviolent or nonserious offenses were sentenced as a result of the law. For example, in the case of Ewing v. California, the defense cited the sentencing as being in violation of both the Eighth Amendment and the proportionality rule. As a result, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the provision was unconstitutional (Legislative Analyst’s Office,

In 2004, Proposition 66 aimed to revise the Three Strikes Law by mandating a life sentence only if the third offense was serious or violent. It also would have removed eight crimes from the serious or violent category. The voters rejected the proposition by a narrow margin. There were 47% of voters on the affirmative side of the proposition. The narrow margin of defeat for the proposition revealed that the citizens of California were largely in favor of revising the policy (Legislative Analyst’s Office, 2005). In 2012, Proposition 36 was approved by the voters in California. The amendment revised the Three Strikes Law by requiring a sentence of 25 years to life only if the third strike offense was serious or violent. Additionally, it allowed inmates who were serving a sentence of 25 years to life under the Three Strikes Law to petition for a sentence reduction if their third strike offense was not serious or violent (California Courts The Judicial Branch of California,