California has led the charge on a new concept of dealing with repeat.
Under this law, a person who is convicted of.
three felonies is given a mandatory 25-to-life sentence. A felony is defined as any.
crime punishable by 1 year or more in prison.
The law has been criticized for applying a one-size-fits-all sentence to repeat.
offenders. The often noted example is one young man who received the sentence.
after stealing a pizza. However, advocates of the law quote the large number of.
repeat offenders that always seem to slip through the justice system without the.
three-strikes law in force. .
It provides a fix for a flawed justice system so that repeat offenders stay in prison.
To many crime victims, the U.S. judicial system has become somewhat of a joke.
Evidentiary exception rules, case backlogs, liberal sentences, plea bargaining, and a.
protect-the-criminal-rather-than-the-victim mentality has far too often let criminals.
slip through the cracks. Most of the crime nowadays is committed by repeat.
offenders. The three strikes law is a way to ensure justice is done even if the system.
otherwise fails miserably.
The law provides a very effective deterrent after the 2nd conviction. Arguments.
always arise over what is the best deterrent. Is there a better deterrent than the.
knowledge you will definitely go to jail for at least 25 years if convicted again? This.
will not only discourage the more serious crime such as rape and armed robbery, it.
will discourage the more minor offenses of things like burglary. It's not like this law.
is secret or unknown to the criminals.
The media distorts the true effectiveness of the law by showing trivial cases (like.
someone stealing pizza) rather than the usual perpetrators. The liberal media.
obviously has an agenda to push when it portrays poor, helpless felons in jail for the.
rest of their lives for stealing videos or pizza, or committing some other "harmless".
crime. Unfortunately, the stories don't reflect the reality of repeat offender data.
