Three Strikes: Harsher Sentencing of Repeat Felony Offender

792 Words2 Pages

Between 1993 and 1995, twenty four states enacted three strikes sentencing policy which calls for much harsher sentencing of repeat felony offender. Most sentences for these repeat offender called for a minimum punishment of a life sentence with possibility of release until twenty five years have been served (1 Marvell, Moody 89). These laws where created to target and punish what lawmakers believed to be the small percentage of criminals that where committing the majority of serious crimes such as murder, rape, kidnaping, aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, and sexual abuse.
The logical reasoning by law makers was that the threat of longer prison term would serve to deter repeat offenders, and would incapacitate the most dangerous of criminals for a longer amount of time (1 Marvell, Moody 90). Lawmakers assumption was that those that have committed crime in the past and have been convicted of that crime would be far less likely to commit crime a 2nd or 3rd time when faced with much harsher sentencing when facing the possibility of life in prison time (1 Marvell, Moody 90). However it has not been proven that the three strike sentencing initiative has had any tangible effect on deterring crime time (1 Marvell, Moody 90).
Most states had stiffer criminal sanction in place before the three strikes law came into play for repeat offender and most of these criminals would serve lengthy terms for their repeat offenses anyways, however the discretion to impose those lengthy prison sentences was at the hands of the judge time (1 Marvell, Moody 90). One must also consider that not all criminals are even aware that the three strike law exist much less are aware of what its implications would be on their repeat offenses. An...

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...ery of a banking institution. We must call for elimination of three strikes sentencing and return discretion to the trial court, eliminating this clear violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Works Cited

Marvell, Thomas B., and Carlisle E. Moody. "The Lethal Effects of Three‐Strikes Laws." The Journal of Legal Sudies 30.1 (2001): 89-106. JSTOR. The University of Chicago for The University of Chicago Law School. Web. 16 Feb. 2014
2: Laird, Lorelei. "California Begins To Release Prisoners After Reforming Its Three-Strikes Law." ABA Journal 99.12 (2013): 1. Legal Collection. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
3: Kovandzic, Tomislav V., Sloan,John J., I.,II, and Lynne M. Vieraitis. ""STRIKING OUT" AS CRIME REDUCTION POLICY: THE IMPACT OF "THREE STRIKES" LAWS ON CRIME RATES IN U.S. CITIES." Justice Quarterly : JQ 21.2 (2004): 207-39. ProQuest. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.

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