I am in support of opposing the “Three Strikes, You’re Out” law that has largely been in debate.  For more than past 20 years, state and federal crime control policies have been based on the belief that harsh sentencing laws will deter people from committing crimes.  But today, with more than one million people behind bars, and state budgets depleted by the huge costs of prison construction, we are no safer than before.  New approaches to the problem of crime are needed, but instead, our political leaders keep serving up the same old strategies.  Take the so-called "Three Strikes, You're Out" law, for example.  

Embraced by state legislators, Congress and the President himself, this law imposes a mandatory life sentence without parole on offenders convicted of certain crimes.  Despite its catchy baseball metaphor, I feel that this law is pointless for the following reasons.

         First, “Three Strikes” is just and old law dressed up in new clothes.  Although its supporters act as if it is something new, "3 Strikes" is really just a variation on an old theme.  States have had habitual offender laws and recidivist statutes for years.  All of these laws impose stiff penalties, up to and including life sentences, on repeat offenders.  The 1987 Federal Sentencing Guidelines and mandatory minimum sentencing laws in most states are also very tough on repeaters.  The government may be justified in punishing a repeat offender more severely than a first offender, but "Three Strikes" laws are overkill.

         Secondly, "Three Strikes" laws could lead to an increase in violence.  Many law enforcement professionals oppose the "Three Strikes" law out of fear such laws would spur a dramatic increase in violence against police, corrections officers and the public.  A criminal facing the prospect of a mandatory life sentence will be far more likely to resist arrest, to kill witnesses or to attempt a prison escape.  Dave Paul, a corrections officer from Milwaukee, Oregon, wrote in a newspaper article, "Imagine a law enforcement officer trying to arrest a twice-convicted felon who has nothing to lose by using any means necessary to escape.  Expect assaults on police and correctional officers to rise precipitously."    Ironically, these laws may cause more, not less, loss of life.  

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         Third, "Three Strikes" laws will cause difficulty in the courts.  The criminal courts already suffer from serious issues.  The extraordinarily high arrest rates resulting from the "war on drugs" have placed enormous burdens on prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges, whose caseloads have grown exponentially over the past decade.  "Three strikes" laws will make a bad situation even worse.  Faced with a mandatory life sentence, repeat offenders will demand costly and time-consuming trials rather than submit to plea-bargaining.  Normal felonies resolved by a plea bargain cost $600 to defend, while a full-blown criminal trial costs as much as $50,000.  Since most ...

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