The Jones-Costa Bill: Three Strikes

It is difficult to imagine a time in history when criminals were able to commit severe crimes and go unpunished or be punished by the law in a lenient manner. How is that someone could unjustly put an end to someone else’s life and be sentenced to prison for seven years, maybe ten. That term sounds like a lengthy time but in my view a person who inflicts harm on another individual should be punished in a more severely way. The wonderful thing about the legal system in this country is that it can change whether it is repealed, amended, or a new law or sets of laws are created. The fact that the ability to propose a law is not solemnly reserved to the government makes our legal system quite remarkable. We have the ability to create a change for the common good and that is exactly what a resident from the city of Fresno, California did. In the year of 1992, Mike Reynolds had to suffer the pain of losing his teenage daughter, Kimber Reynolds, whose life was taken away by a man who shot her because Kimber refused to let her purse be stolen by two armed robbers. The man who served as an accessory to murder in the tragic killing of Kimber was someone who had quite a criminal background ranging from narcotics to theft. Here this man was once again committing the crime of theft, but this time it amounted to a higher degree of severity. Kimber’s father along with many people wondered how was it that a criminal like Douglas Walker was out in the streets being a free man. The law of that period of time had failed to punish a man who was out terrorizing society and destroying social order. It is a tragedy that an incident like the murder of Kimber Reynolds had to happen in order for someone to take action in taking steps to change our legal sy...

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... 25-years-to-life sentence, with some key exceptions that permit a third strike sentence even if the new offense is not serious or violent. Equally as important as the requirement that the third offense must be serious or violent is the provision that permits a court to reconsider a third strike sentence for those inmates who received 25 years to life for minor offenses that would not qualify for a third strike sentence under Proposition 36. Under this remediation provision, an inmate has two years within which to petition the sentencing court to consider resentencing to a second strike sentence. The court can exercise its discretion to deny resentencing for public safety reasons.” (Cooley and Rubin, 264).

Even though proposition thirty-six has been in effect for the short period of two years, its impact on the legal system in California has been quite significant.