Three-Strikes Law

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“The 3-Strikes Law”

In early 1994 the state Legislature made changes to the Penal Code Statute section 667. This section, along with 1170.12, which had been approved in November of 1994, is part of the Penal Code that encompasses the “three-strikes and you’re out” law. Without knowing the true nature of Proposition 184, the voters passed it anyways. We are now experiencing the many pitfalls of this law, and our prison system is seeing a dramatic increase in numbers of non-violent criminals that are being incarcerated for long periods of time.
As of March 7, 1994 if someone commits a crime that is considered a felony and they have one previous violent conviction or a serious felony such as burglary of an unoccupied dwelling they are sentenced to twice the amount of time recommended by law. They must also serve 80% of this time without the hope of getting time off for good behavior.
You will find that the definition of “violent” and “serious” are different and are based on the current conviction prior to March 8, 2000. Violent offenses include murder, robbery of a residence in which a deadly or dangerous weapon is used, rape and other sex offenses. Serious offenses include the same offenses defined as violent offenses, but also include other crimes such as burglary of a residence and assault with the intent to commit robbery or rape (Three, 1). Proposition 21 went into affect in March of 2000.
There are other disturbing mandates of this “3-Strikes Law.” The court may not grant someone that is previously convicted of a violent or serious felony, who is convicted of one or more new felonies, probation (Mullins, 1). A person sentenced under this may not be committed to any other facility but to a prison. A person sentenced under this law may only get sentencing credits limited to a maximum of twenty percent (Mullins, 3). This law also does not allow plea-bargaining. Three-strikes doesn’t allow for p...