The moniker 'Three strikes law' aka “Three Strikes and You’re Out” refers to the statutes that make imposition of harsher sentences mandatory on repeated offenders of serious or violent felonies. This law grants life sentences without any possibility of parole for minimum 25 years on the third strike of offense. The crimes listed under 'violent' include murder, rape, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, sexual abuse and violent physical assault. Under this statute, a criminal who has been convicted of serious crimes in two prior charges might receive a maximum sentencing on the third felony even if that is a minor felony such as shoplifting or stealing. Scott Andrew Hove aged 45 stole merchandise worth $20.94 from the Home Depot store and received 29 years of imprisonment under the three strikes law of California (Jack Leonard). His sentence points out to the debate going on for 17 years after the law was enacted in 1994 that the punishments meted out by three strikes law are unconstitutional and too punitive. Since its enactment in the mid 1990's, several U.S. states began to adopt the three strikes law to their State Constitutions. Though the law was passed as crime deterrent but over the years, its application has been subjected to a lot of controversies including racial discrimination and doling out life sentences to perpetrators of minor crimes. A number of people and organizations in support of three strikes law believe that the law helps in the reduction of crimes and deter criminals, but studies have shown that the three strikes law does not act as a crime deterrent and opponents have argued that minor perpetrators can receive excessive jail time through its implementation
The exact application and the versions of three strikes law vary state wise. California especially is known for rigorously doling out life sentencing to repeat offenders. Proponents of the law claim that after the enactment of three-strike law the rate of crimes has dropped down considerably. In California the number of homicide in 2010 in Los Angeles was recorded as 297, one third of pre-three strikes crime rate of 1,000 homicides in 1992 (Mandalit del Barco). However, several studies analyzing the effect of the law in crime deterrence revealed that the three strikes law doesn’t have significant role to play in deterring crimes because the pre-existing homicide laws are quite severe granting long or life sentences without any possibility of parole to offenders on their first offense and hence three strikes law are not bringing any significant change in deterring crimes. The dropping of crime rates in California has nothing to do with the implementation of three strikes law because the dropping began before the law was passed. Rather the states without three strikes law have significant decline in crimes than the ones with the law. Recidivists in California received life-without-parole sentences before the passage of three strikes law. Rather this law has allowed imprisonment of perpetrators of minor crimes to longer jail terms. Several offenders have been sentenced to life imprisonment for petty theft like shoplifting or attempts of burglary involving money under $400, if they were earlier convicted of theft and burglary and had spent time in jail for the offense. Jerry Dewayne Williams, the pizza thief who had previous convictions for robbery and attempted robbery was sentenced to 25 years of life when he committed the third felony of stealing a slice of pizza from a group of children (Jack Leonard). Not only Williams, many offenders were subjected to severe punishment under this law for minor felony like shoplifting a bottle of vitamins or stealing videotapes to buy heroin.
Further the application of three strike law shows racial discrimination in sentencing. African American men who comprise only 6.5 % of the state's population constitute 31% of inmates in California prisons with 33% being second strikers and 44% being third strikers. In Florida, the chances of female offenders being sentenced under three strikes law are rare, but if the female offenders are African American then they are more likely to be sentenced by the same law. Studies show that the young black and Hispanic males have more likelihood to receive harsher sentencing than the middle aged while men. The life sentences doled out to African Americans is 13 times higher than that of whites and the Latinos imprisoned under three strikes law is a steep 82% higher than whites (Afro-Netizen). There is evidence of judges stereotyping the characteristics of the minority section in order for the three strikes law to be applied.
Three strikes law is not cost effective. By sending offenders to long term imprisonment, three strikes law is crowding the prisons which would eventually result in high cost of maintenance of geriatric inmates. Research shows that the cost of maintenance of long-term sentenced aged and infirm prisoners is two to three times higher than that of young and healthier ones. Further, most of the three strike offenders prefer to go for trials rather than pleading guilty and hence the cost incurred by pre-conviction jail terms, case processing and trials is huge. In order to house the inmates, a lot of amount of money is spent on building prisons. Research shows that by the end of 1997, almost one fourth of the population of California was imprisoned for second or third strike offense (prisonpolicy.org). The money invested in building additional prisons to house the three and second strike offenders would have restrained more crimes had it been invested on prevention programs.
Three strikes law refers to the statues enacted in the United States in order to curb the growing crime rates of the country. Under this law, a third time offender of violent felony will receive minimum mandatory sentencing of life imprisonment. But its application over the last 17 years showed that due to this law many offenders of minor crimes have been subjected to harsher sentences. Offenders convicted of petty theft like stealing of pizza or videotapes, shoplifting have received life sentencing. Therefore, there is a raging debate going on whether or not the law is effective. Proponents believe the law to be fair and square and effective enough to have brought a decline in the rate of crimes while the opponents believe the pre-existing laws for violent crimes were stricter enough to punish a first time offender with life sentencing without any parole and therefore, three strikes law has little to contribute to the decline of crimes. Rather the implementation of law allows racial discrimination and minor offenders to be sentenced to life imprisonment. Further it has increased the prison costs. Taking into account all the factors, I believe this law is not effective. It must be one of the important agendas of the government to reduce crime rates in the country, but a single law cannot be panacea for all the crimes. Hence a comprehensive overhaul of social, health, educational and justice system should be implemented for an effective result.
Works Cited
1. Leonard Jack, After 17 years, three-strikes law is still hotly debated, Los Angeles Times. September 05, 2011. Retrieved on 12th may 2013 from http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/05/local/la-me-home-depot-theft-20110905
2. J.E. Walsh, In the Furtherance of Justice, Claremont Graduate University, Retrieved on 12th may 2013 from http://www.threestrikes.org/JEWalsh.pdf
3. Leonard Jack, 'Pizza thief' walks the line, Los Angeles Times. February 10, 2010. Retrieved on 12th may 2013 from http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/10/local/la-me-pizzathief10-2010feb10
4. Three Strikes Law Disproportionately Affects Blacks, Afro-Netizen, October 27, 2004. Retrieved on 12th may 2013 from http://www.afro-netizen.com/2004/10/three_strikes_l_1.html
5. "Three Strikes Laws”: Five Years Later, prisonpolicy.org. Retrieved on 12th may 2013 from http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/sp/3strikes.pdf
6. Barco Mandalit del, L.A.'s Homicide Rate Lowest In Four Decades, January 06, 2011. Retrieved on 12th May 2013 from http://www.npr.org/2011/01/06/132677265/las-homicide-rate-lowest-in-four-decades
