Three strikes law being looked at as too punitive.....

[MindMover]

Last edited Sun Jul 1, 2012, 03:28 PM - Edit history (1)

States across the country are reconsidering three-strikes laws, particularly for low-level drug crimes.

Larry Williams was walking down an alley in Anaheim, Calif., in January 1996, when he was stopped by the police. Williams, who was on parole at the time, struck up a conversation with the officers, and showed them his new cellphone, which he said he bought to keep in touch with his son, according to court records. The next day, the police learned that the phone was stolen.

If it had been his first offense, Williams would probably have served a year in prison for possession of stolen property. But because of several prior convictions for residential burglary and prior parole violations, he was sentenced to 25-years to life under California’s three-strikes law.

A federal judge, in a 2005 opinion on the constitutionality of Williams’ sentence, found that Williams illustrated the “extremely rare case” where his prison sentence was grossly disproportionate to his crimes.

“At a minimum, it is questionable whether the combination of Williams’s possession of a stolen cellular telephone and his criminal history justifies a substantially longer sentence than for murder, manslaughter, or rape,” Magistrate Judge Suzanne Segal wrote.

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/01/rethinking_%E2%80%98tough_on_crime%E2%80%99_salpart/

[Live and Learn]

1. From the title, I thought they wanted to decrease the strikes for a life sentence.

Good article, though.

[TheWraith]

2. No shit. They also don't work, and can actually increase crime.

Not by much, but there was a study awhile back comparing crime rates. Most people don't know, but the US is in a historic 20-year decline in crime, down to lows not seen since the 1960s.

During the study period, 1994-1995, states which had three strikes laws saw their crime rate go down about 1.7 percent. But in states WITHOUT three strikes laws, the crime rate went down by 4.2 percent.

Why? Short answer, anybody on their third strike was in a position where they would go to prison for life no matter what they did. Shoplifting gets just as severe a penalty as murder. A mugger would probably leave his victim alive, but a mugger with two strikes has every reason to kill the one person who can identify them.