Three Strikes Law

Somehow, keeping a bunch of random innocents in prison and interrogating them for the passwords to their phones and electronic devices was how the DHS decided to investigate the attacks. In the end, it turned against them, but for a year, many of the death tolls in the attack were being held on Treasure Island, their families expecting them to be at the bottom of a river, dead. I was only in there for a few days, but it changed my life. They threatened me if I ever told anyone, and I lived in paranoia knowing that one word I say about it that gets to their ears, m... ... middle of paper ... ...ot calling you about that witch...well, yes, I kind of am, but I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. After everything that’s happened, that’s the least I could do.

This sets a standard on how much the courts can take of one person who has been convicted of violent crimes and petty crimes. There are many murders that could have been prevented if this law was enforced before the law was enforced. What brought the idea of this law? A man named Mike Reynolds had a daughter that was going to turn 19 years old. She ended up being murdered on June 29, 1992, in Tower District here in Fresno by a criminal that should have been locked up; he was a repeat felon (Jones).

Getting tougher on crime brings the hope of having less crime within our society. Consequences of crime is what prevents people from committing a crime, but some people bypass the consequences and still convict the crime, does this mean that the consequences that are set are not threatening enough? Do criminals feel like if they get caught the consequences in the end are worth it? With making sentences longer, this will make it less likely for offenders to re-offend. It is important that the public feels safe, and that isn’t always the case when criminals are let out much sooner than what they should be, the public has the fear of being a victim of a re-offender or first time offender.

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.

Spending his last 38 years in Marcy Prison New York, he was finally released. “The New York Times reports the judge found failure of Bryant’s attorney to consult with a blood and semen testing expert deprived him of a fair trial” (wow this is.) In this case you may say that the attorney had the fault but who knows maybe the attorney was getting paid ,or something else might had be going on giving that it was so far back it could had be a racially issue. In No Choirboy, Roy Burgess also had an unfair trial he was accused of killing Kevin Gardener. The only witnesses were his three supposedly called friends; blaming the crime all on him.

Even though it was an accident, the victim’s death occurred while Trevor intended armed robbery and was accused of felony murder and will spend the rest of his life in prison. Jacob Ind was sentenced to life without parole. At the age of fifteen, he killed his mother and stepfather in order to put an end to the all kinds of abuse they were putting him through. The jury did not recognize the fact that it was primarily self-defense and accused him of first degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence. These are the cases of only three kids who got life without parole but there are so many more.

The death penalty can in fact deter heinous crimes from being committed when it is lawful in a state. Social scientists have stated that the act of general deterrence, which is when the punishment deters potential criminals from committing crimes, keeps criminals from going through with crimes. However, it is more shown that premeditated crimes are usually the ones stopped by general deterrence, not crimes under passion. Heinous crimes have been reduced highly in the states that have a capital punishment law. The death penalty keeps repeat offenders off of the streets.

Schmalleger writes, "Few traffic tickets would have to be written if minor driving offenses were punishable by death." As a free society there are obvious limitations on the use of capital punishment that the law must still protect. However capital punishment in itself is a deterrent. If the death penalty were the mandatory sentencing for any murder, the murder rates in our society would surely lessen. Deterrence is a very effective method in achieving the goals of criminal sentencing.

1. Criminology Criminology is the science of studying how laws are made, the breaking of laws, and the social reaction to the breaking of laws. Criminologists research past criminal events to contribute to decrease the crime rates and develop a society that is less vulnerable to criminal acts. There are different theories that have emerged over the years that have helped criminologists to get to solid conclusions on the relation between crime and society. The study of criminology is important because it helps society understand what the crimes are, and how criminals who commit this crimes are punished.

Homolka wanted full immunity for her cooperation but she was denied and offered a plea deal that would require her to spend 12 years in prison. June 29, 1995, Homolka testified at Bernardo’s trial and painted herself as a victim (Montaldo, n.d.). The pair’s recorded sexual encounters with their victims were shown at trial and showed that Homolka played more of a role in these crimes than she had mentioned. However, she was already offered a deal, so nothing was altered. Bernardo was found guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault (Fowles, 2013).