What can be done to make the 3-Strikes law more fair?
Of course, not everyone thinks the 3-Strikes law is unfair. More than 60% of the voters who voted (did you vote?) voted for 3-Strikes. However, a lot of people who voted for 3-Strikes were not aware of what it really means and does. This is not surprising since it is very poorly drafted, very long, and very technical. The campaign literature in support of 3-Strikes talked about putting repeat rapists, robbers, and murderers away for a long time. It didn’t talk about putting petty thieves and drug users away for 25-years-to-life. As a result of the realization by some that 3-Strikes is much harsher than they originally thought and that it costs a whole lot of money ($20+ thousand/year) to keep people in prison, certain members of the California Legislature are starting to rethink 3-Strikes to a certain extent. There have been proposals to limit its application to cases where the new offense is a “serious” or “violent” crime. No legislation has yet passed modifying 3-Strikes. It will be
