Alternative Solutions to "Three Strikes" Law Essay Example

Proposition 36 was put in place as an alternative solution to replace the infamous Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act popularly known as the "Three strikes," law enacted in 1994. The "Three Strikes" Law was introduced in the United States justice system to curb the rising cases of violent crime. However, the law has received criticism throughout its entire implementation. The perceived failure of the "Three Strikes" law prompted legislators in California State to rethink the policy and introduce proposition 36 as an alternative solution.

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During the 1990s, the rate of crime in the United was so high prompting a public outrage against the rising trends of crime. The public outcry forced politicians to propose stricter and lengthy sentences to "persistent offenders" of repeat felonies. This harsh law was first implemented in California where felons found guilty of a serious crime for third time were to be locked up for at least 25 years to life without parole. However, a review of this policy has revealed that harsh sentencing or stricter laws are not the appropriate remedies to crime since it only results in more people getting locked up and fueling more violent offenses.

Proposition 36 is regarded as an alternative proposal to the harsh "Three strikes" law that has been in force in many states for 25 years now without much impact. The rate of violent crime in the United States is unacceptably high. A law that would deter crime and encourage responsible citizenry would be highly welcome. The "three strikes" law was viewed as the perfect solution to the rising trend in crime. However, since its implementation in most states, it has only resulted in millions of Americans getting locked up, tens of thousands serving life sentences and hundreds facing the death penalty. Besides these poor outcomes of the "Three strikes," the federal government has been spending a considerable amount of money to build and manage prisons.

Statistics about incarceration rates in the United States by 2012 prompted the administration to rethink the "Three Strikes" policy and swiftly replace it with Proposition 36. By 2012, the rate of incarceration in the United States was the highest in the world. At a rate of 716 per 100,000 of the country's population, this represents the highest incarceration globally (Kann, D. (2018). The "Three Strikes" law has contributed to the 2.2 million people held in United States Prisons as of 2014. State governments spend an average of 5% of their budgets on managing correctional facilities. The federal government spends a total of $265 billion a year to build and manage prisons across all the states (Chiesa, 2016). The policymakers resolved that it was time to make amendments and do away with the harsh sentencing law since it has yielded little results other than overburdening taxpayers with huge budgets to fund the operations of prisons besides giving convicts no option to be rehabilitated back into the society as responsible citizens.

The proposal was first introduced to California voters on November 6, 2012, where it was subjected to the ballot as an alternative to the then dysfunctional "Three Strikes Law." The voters in California voted in support of the proposal making it a state statute which was later approved and adopted later towards the end of 2012. The proposed alternative solution was meant to modify some elements of California's "Three Strikes Law. California was the pioneer state to adopt the "Three Strikes" Law back in 1994 hoping that it would result in the reduction of crime. However, the failures in the law since then led to the proposal of proposition 66 which was meant to replace the "Three Strikes Law" which was rejected by the voters. However, persistence in the failures of the "Three Strikes" Law left voters with no choice but to have it replaced with a more workable alternative solution.

The 1994 law required that any suspect charged with a successive offense would be liable for a harsh sentencing irrespective of whether it's serious and violent or not. Proposition 36, however, proposed modifications to this law such that a convict would be subjected to a life sentence only when the new felony conviction is either serious or violent (Valletta, 2017). The proposal also authorized felons convicted under the first law to be liable for re-sentencing especially for offenders serving life sentences whose third strike offense that resulted in the conviction was either "certain non-serious, possession of firearms, no-violent sex offense or drug-related offenses." The new law, however, proposed to maintain life sentences in the event the third strike conviction was as a result of proven guilty of violent sexual offenses, child molestation or murder. However, in the event, a judge determines that re-sentencing can pose an unreasonable risk to public safety, the felon can be given a less harsh sentence and be rehabilitated back to the society as a reformed convict.

Evidence has shown that the proposed alternative solution could yield better results compared to the "Three Strikes Law." From the face value, re-sentencing of felons who were convicted of non-serious or non-violent crimes would reduce prison populations in the United States by a significant margin. Approval of the Proposition 36 in California alone, for instance, gave an opportunity to 3,000 prisoners convicted for felons under the "Three Strikes Law" and currently serving life-sentence to qualify for re-sentencing. Most of these prisoners became eligible for a petition, reduced sentences and some who were wrongfully convicted released from prison. The new law would allow the state government of California to save about $150 to $200 million a year since it would reduce its budgetary allocation following the re-sentencing of about 3,000 prisoners out of the 8,800 prisoners who were serving life jail terms under the 1994 harsh law.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the factors discussed above necessitated the introduction of Proposition 36 to address the gaps left by the 1994 law. Despite the need to deter crime, harsh sentences have proven to have little impact on reducing crime. The "Three Strikes' Law achieved negative results from what the implementers expected. It not only encouraged crime cases to increase but it also made convicts to be hardened and commit more serious and violent crimes. Correctional and law scholars suggest that rehabilitation of felons would be the most appropriate strategy to lower crimes rates in the United States. Introduction of Proposition 36 has proved that tendencies of committing violent crimes have become fewer in the recent past after its implementation. Some states have also managed to lower their expenditure on managing state prisons significantly. Prisons in San Bernardino County, for instance, have managed to release about 33% of the prison population under the new law reducing their prison spending by over 20%.

References

Chiesa, J. (2016). California's New Three-Strikes Law: Benefits, Costs, and Alternatives. Retrieved from https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB4009.html

Kann, D. (2018). The US still incarcerates more people than any other country. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/28/us/mass-incarceration-five-key-facts/index.html

Valletta, E. (2017). Three Strikes Law - A General Summary. Retrieved from https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/public_defender/strikes.html