Three Strikes Law
...to an unbelievable twenty five years to life for the crime of robbing a golf pro shop. The reason for this was that he was a repeat offender and the judgement was according to the Three Strikes Law. A man with drug abuse history, Johnny Quirino, was sentence to the same term for stealing razor blades in 1996. His prior sentences were two burgularies. This sentence was unjustifiable given both the crimes committed and the previous offenses as well. It essentially makes a mockery of the ability of the legal system to to properly apportion punishment. The Three Strikes Law is not only unfair but it is also unconstitutional. This law contravenes the Eigth Ammendment under the constitution which stipulates extreme sentences are seriously disproportionate. Proponents of the law such as the National Center for Policy Analysis (NPA) contend that the law is effective. They assert that lenient punishment does not serve as a deterrent to the criminally inclined. Yet two of the critics of the law, Vincent Shiraldi and Geri Silva, estimated that crime declined by eleven percent in more than twenty four states without the law. The Three Strikes Law is estimated to cost the state of California about six billion dollars per year. Courst no longer appear to be understanding towards repeat offenders. This law infact is encroaching on the liberties of Americans and they are speaking out against it. Many are taking actions to right the wrongs that are obvious with the Three Strikes Law as evidenced by Proposition 66, which aims to revise the existent law. In October of 2004, The Los Angelos Times reported that it was backed by at sixty-two percent of likely voters. On May 31, the Associated Press reported that an insurance broker named Jerry Keenan spent one million six hundred thousand dollars to get an initiative on the the November ball...