Three Strikes Laws: Rationale and Amendments

Criminal Justice -- Three Strikes Law

Decades ago, America got tough on crime, especially when it involved habitual offenders. In order to reduce crime, at least 26 states passed Three Strikes Law giving especially long sentences to those offenders. The original Three Strikes Law had consequences that outweighed the benefits, so many states have amended or otherwise revised Three Strikes, usually reducing or eliminating mandatory maximum sentences and giving judges more discretion. Perhaps the most striking example is California, which enacted a very tough Three Strikes Law in 1994, suffered serious consequences, and then "reformed" the law. While states still wish to be tough on crime, they want to ensure that the benefits of Three Strikes Law outweigh its consequences.

Body

Overall Rationale of Three Strikes Law

The overall rationale of the "Three Strikes Law" is the significant reduction of crime. It supposedly reduces crime in two ways: by making it more difficult for repeat offenders to commit even more crimes during extended incarceration; and by discouraging other offenders from committing more crimes due to the threat of Three Strikes sentencing (Brown & Jolivette, 2005). Imprisonment is supposed to modify the behavior of offenders and discourage them from committing more crimes; however, "habitual offenders" - those who repeatedly commit serious crimes - are supposedly not responsive to behavior modification through imprisonment and not deterred by the prospect of prison. Consequently, the habitual offender is difficult for the justice system to handle, so this special law -- the "Three Strikes Law" -- was designed to deal with them (Brown & Jolivette, 2005).

The "Three Strikes Law" is a product of the "get tough on crime" movement in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s, when politicians seized on citizens' anger and fear of crime and made it a strong political issue (Vitiello, 1997, p. 395). Based on the baseball rule of "three strikes, you're out," the Three Strikes Law provides that a person who has been convicted of two serious criminal offenses (felonies), must be sentenced to an exceptionally long-term of incarceration if he/she is found guilty of committing a third offense (Sutton, 2013, p. 40). Variations of the Three Strikes Law were enacted in at least 26 states (Brown & Jolivette, 2005), with the earliest and most severe enacted in California in 1994 after two particularly heinous murders committed by repeat felony offenders. In California, the "third strike" could be designated at the prosecutor's discretion and did not need to be a serious crime (Sutton, 2013, p. 40).