Three Strikes Law

Three Strikes Law

Recidivism is a tendency to relapse into a former pattern of behavior or a tendency to return to criminal behavior. Many studies have been conducted about criminals who begin with petty crimes (misdemeanors) that repeat the same crimes or graduate to serious crimes (felonies). The fear of repeat offenders and the increase of recidivism ignited the federal and state governments to seek harsher ways to protect citizens’ safety. Mike Reynolds a photographer whose daughter, Kimber, was murdered in1992 during a purse snatching incident introduced the Three Strikes Law in 1993. State legislators did consider and rejected this law because they believed the measures were harsh and costly. However, the Three Strikes Law received national attention from a second incident, the 1993 kidnapping of Polly Klaas from her Petaluma home. Polly was kidnapped and murdered by Richard Allen Davis who was on parole during this time. Because of this second incident, in January 1994 during President Clinton’s State of the Union Address, he requested for the enactment of a federal Three Strikes Law. In March 1994, California passed the Three Strikes bill. “Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy criticized the politics surrounding the enactment of the Three Strikes Law of California’s famous recidivist sentencing scheme as ‘sick’” (Romano, 2010). Although the Three Strikes Law centers on California, Washington was the first state to adopt the law while California followed with a broader version.

According to Dickey and Hollenhorst (1999), “23 states and the federal government adopted some form of “three strikes and you’re out” law intending to target repeat violent offenders (p.1). The law varies among states, but the intent i...

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... of offenders convicted on a second strike and 44 percent of those convicted on a third strike” (p. 10).

Overcrowding

Conclusion

Generally, the Three Strikes Law is effective. It has met the goals of deterrence and incapacitation of career criminals without putting a strain on state budgets and overcrowding prisons. The law has progressed to ensure that it targets only career criminals. Each state has its own methods of exercising preferences to ensure the law is fairly applied.

The Three Strikes Law focuses on individuals and determines whether they receive longer sentencing because of their past criminal conduct. Justice O’Connor explained, “Recidivism is a serious public safety concern in California and throughout the nation” (Goodno, 2007). The law was enacted to handle this concern, and currently, the law is showing that it is doing its job.