Реферат: Three Strikes You

this era, the average number of persons booked over this period has dropped.

The average number of people booked per month in county jails hit a record

low in 1995 with 97,589. This is because 6% of criminals are responsible

for 70% of all crime.

During the debate over the “Three Strikes

law, opponents argued that the prison system would become overfilled with

non-violent offenders serving life terms. Trying to prove this true a study

conducted by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in 1996 concluded

that 85% of the people sentenced under the “Three Strikes” law received

their third strike for a non-violent crime. It reported that 192 individuals

were convicted of marijuana possession while only 40 were convicted of

murder, 25 of rape, and 24 of kidnapping. At the end of 1997, California?s

inmate population totaled 152,577. 23.2% of the inmates (35,411), were

imprisoned for second- and third-strike convictions.

There were repeated warnings about the

cost to implement the new law, but few have addressed the other side of

the equation and the savings to the state, in lives and in dollars. Had

our 1993 crime rate continued unaffected over these past few years, nearly

815,000 additional crimes would have been committed in California, including

217,000+ violent crimes. We would have suffered more than 4,000 homicide

victims; 6000+ women would have been victims of rape. Also the savings

in dollars is between $5.8 billion and $15.5 billion since the enactment

of the “Three Strikes” law.

There has been swift and dramatic impact

on crime since the enactment of the “Three Strikes” law. The crime rate

has dropped more than 30%. But there are other factors that play a part

in this reduction like crime prevention, and community policing. However

there has been a significant drop in the crime rate. Also the predictions

about cost, over populating and others have not come true. With all of