THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THREE-STRIKES LAW

The Effectiveness of Three-Strikes Law

The Effectiveness of a Three-Strikes Law

Three strikes laws are laws enacted by state governments in United States requiring state courts to hand down the mandatory and extended period of incarceration to persons who have been convicted of the felony in three or more separate occasions. These statutes became very popular in 1990's. Twenty-four states have some type of habitual offender laws.

New Zealand plans to introduce the form of Three Strikes Law in early 2010 as part of sentencing and parole reform legislation. Name comes from baseball where the batter is allowed two goals before striking out in third.

Three Strikes law significantly increases imprisonment of persons convicted of serious crimes that have been previously convicted of the violent crime or felony, and limits ability of these offenders to receive the punishment other than imprisonment. Violent felonies specified in state law. Violent crimes include murder, robbery of the residence that uses the deadly or dangerous weapon, rape and other sexual offenses, felonies are same offenses as violent crimes, but also include other crimes such as theft of the residence and assault with intent to commit the robbery or murder.

Some unusual scenarios have emerged, particularly in California - state punishes shoplifting and similar crimes on less than $ 400 in stolen property and misdemeanor if person who committed crime has the prior conviction for any form of theft, including theft or theft. As the result, some defendants have been sentenced to 25 years to life imprisonment for crimes such as shoplifting golf clubs (Gary Ewing, previous strikes for burglary and robbery with the knife), or over an assault violent, the slice of pepperoni pizza from the group of children (Jerry Dewayne Williams, previous convictions for robbery and attempted robbery, sentence later reduced to six years). In ...