Реферат: Three Strikes And You

One interesting look at the impact of the three strikes

law is to view it from the eyes of the actual offender. In

Martin’s article A View from the Underworld: Life After

three Strikes, he tells of a friend of his that has a few

prior convictions but is out of prison at the time. After

trying to reach him by phone and being unsuccessful, he

catches up with him sometime later. He learns that his

phone was turned off and done so on purpose. Martin’s

friend explains it as so: “I’m afraid that someone will

call and ask me for a lawnmower part and a narcotics

detective will get on the stand and say that ‘lawnmower’

part was really cocaine or heroin and I’m gone” (Martin,

1995: 2). This may serve as an example of how some

criminals that roam the streets feel about the three strikes

law. If they have two prior convictions, it will not take

much to get that third, leaving them on thin ice.

The three strikes law seems to have more going against

it than for it at the present time. One major problem is

that it is not enforced everywhere it is available and when

enforced, it is not done so consistently. However, if this

law were to be enforced as it were designed, it would have a

profound effect on our crime statistics in a good way. One

way to possibly confront the problem of prison overcrowding

and financial burden would be the establishment of a release

age wherein that criminals subjected to this law would be

released after such a time. With all the research on the

crime rates of certain ages, there is bound to be an age

where offenders could be released with the confident

assumption that they will not commit again. Three strikes