Реферат: Three Strikes And You

robber has two priors, a murder and an arson is no different

to him than a robbery” (1995: 2). Schafer found that

fifty-four percent of offenders responding to a survey he

conducted responded that they “would kill witnesses or law

enforcement officers to avoid a life sentence” (1999: 10)

Criminals believe that if they are going to have a mandatory

sentence of life imposed on them they might as well go one

step further.

The other concern is the racial disparity that is

seemingly spawning from this new law. Walker briefly

addresses this issue stating that “African-Americans were

being sent to prison thirteen times as often under the law

as were whites” (1998: 140). Tischler affirms this

statistic stating that “44 percent of those convicted under

three strikes laws are black” (1999: 1).

Along with the supporting materials to Walker’s

argument there is also opposing views that say that three

strikes laws are working. The first is the deterrent effect

of three strikes laws. Any way you look at it, the crime

rate in California since the adoption of this law in March

of 1994 has significantly decreased (Schafer, 1999). There

is a wide range of percentages that are given to represent

this decrease. One of the more conservative statistics

quotes a 26.9% decrease, or 815,000 crimes, since 1994

(Schafer, 1999). Schafer presents his deterrent argument

stating that “[i]n the year prior to the law’s passage,

California’s population of paroled felons increased by

226….In the year after the law’s enactment, the number of

paroled felons plunged as 1,335 moved out of California”