Three-Strikes Sentencing

Three-Strikes Sentencing

Introduction

There is a lot of debate about the three-strike law which required repeated offenders to serve twice the period normally served by those who have offended for the first time. According to the government, those who commit a serious offence for a third time are considered a threat to the society and should therefore serve a longer prison term. In most states, the only crimes that can be considered serious are felony crimes.

Despite all the debate, people claim that this law is effective since the crime rates throughout the country have decreased. However, several people who have committed minor crimes have been imprisoned for life due to which people have raised their voices to reduce the terms for criminals who are not a threat to the society so that they may begin a different life after service their prison terms. This has led to some changes in the law; however, the law has to be redesigned so that no unjust term is given to criminals.

Discussion

The name of this law comes from baseball in which the batter is allowed two strikes before being struck out on the next ball. The three-strike law increases the prison sentence significantly in order to prevent such offenders from continuously committing such crimes. The duration of such a sentence usually lasts for a minimum of 25 years. So far around half of the states have laws directed at such crimes.

Since several of the offenders commit serious crimes, the result is life imprisonment for a large number of offenders who have committed more than two serious crimes. The laws in each state are different and so are the lists of offences that are considered serious offences. These offences include robbery with a deadly weapon or the intent of the same, rape, murder, sex offences etc (Kohn, 2009).

Even after committing crimes, offenders still have rights in their society; because of this, they are entitled to fight for their rights even after being given punishment. The fifth, sixth, and eight amendments give them sufficient right so that they can demand a speedy trial and no excessive punishments are provided to them. Even if the crime committed is severe, these people still have all the rights in the constitution.

The three-strike law has several issues as well as advantages. Apart from this, every state has interpreted this law differently. In fact, some of the laws are against the rights given to people under the constitution which had built up a lot of controversy. While any discussion is being conducted about this law, it is necessary to keep in mind whether or not this law is having a positive impact on the society or not.

The main reason this law was put in place was to prevent criminals from committing serious offences repeatedly. The issue of criminals committing crimes after being released from prison is a major reason the crime rate in societies is high. However, if there was a law whereby those who broke the law could be sent back to ...