• A strikeout in California A strikeout in California By the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – October 28, 2004 California’s three-strikes sentencing law apparently is no longer a big hit with the public. Polls show nearly two-thirds of Californians favor a
• A strikeout in California
A strikeout in California
By the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – October 28, 2004
California’s three-strikes sentencing law apparently is no longer a big hit with the public. Polls show nearly two-thirds of Californians favor a scaled-back measure, called Proposition 66, that is on the ballot Tuesday.
Therein lies a cautionary tale for Missouri voters weighing the ideas of candidates who favor the simplistic three-strikes approach to crime and punishment. Secretary of State Matt Blunt, the GOP candidate for governor, and Kansas City lawyer Chris Byrd, the GOP candidate running against incumbent Attorney General Jay Nixon, are among them.
Approved in 1994 on the heels of the highly publicized kidnapping and murder of 12-year old Polly Klaas, California’s three-strikes law gave judges the authority to impose life sentences on repeat criminals convicted of at least three felonies. California’s Prop 66 would amend that law to trigger life sentences only in cases involving serious or violent felonies.
California’s current law has resulted in costly overkill, sticking taxpayers with the bill for feeding, housing and caring for prisoners whose offenses could have been better addressed with shorter sentences, counseling and treatment. Prisoners like Jerry Williams and Rene Landa. Williams got a 25 years-to-life term for stealing a slice of pizza. Williams was released after the state Supreme Court empowered judges to revoke prior “strikes” and hand down sentences far short of 25-to-life. Landa, who had two prior convictions for burglary, got a life sentence for stealing a spare tire.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state’s attorney general and county prosecutors all have lined up in support of the existing law, arguing that the measure is partly responsible for a decline in crime since 1994. Mr. Schwarzenegger calls Prop 66 a danger to public safety and to neighborhoods.
At least in California, voters are having a conversation about what is effective and proportionate in dealing with criminals. Before Missourians cast their lot with advocates of three strikes, they would do well to look carefully at California’s experience and the reasons Prop 66 is gaining support.
Throwing nonviolent offenders behind bars for years is an expensive proposition. When state revenues are tight, it makes sense to consider cheaper front-end options – after-school programs for kids, job training, drug counseling and the like – that keep people from turning to crime in the first place.
