3 strikes
We have all heard of the newest anti-crime law, the "Three strikes and you're out" law. It wasn't easy getting this law from the bill stage in Sacramento to the law stage, because it is not a criminal friendly law. Meaning that this law's purpose is to bring pain, suffering, and intimidation to criminals. Our state government was basically ran by the Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, now mayor of San Francisco. Brown had the power to choose who sat on what committee in the house, and using this he could terminate any bill he did not agree with. And with this attitude it took a lot of patients and perseverance by the people trying to pass this bill. But how did the bill become a bill? I will answer this question with help of the Kimber Reynolds story.Monday, June 29, 1992 in Fresno, California a young woman was brutally murdered outside The Daily Planet, a restaurant patronized by the local young people. The girl was visiting home for the summer after being in the Los Angeles area attending school. Her and a friend were getting into their car when two guys on a motorcycle rode up next to Kimber Reynolds blocking her in, taking her purse, and beating her into submissio
The crime rate has dropped more than 30%. There were repeated warnings about the cost to implement the new law, but few have addressed the other side of the equation and the savings to the state, in lives and in dollars. Their efforts would not be fruitless because they knew that if they could get enough signatures that the proposal would be put on the November, 1994 election ballot. In the three years prior to the law assault against law enforcers dropped 14. Had our 1993 crime rate continued unaffected over these past few years, nearly 815,000 additional crimes would have been committed in California, including 217,000+ violent crimes. Triple the sentence or twenty-five years to life, whichever is greater, for any combination of two prior violent or serious felony convictions coupled with any new felony. Maximum allowable time off for good behavior is reduced to 20 percent. Trying to prove this true a study conducted by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in 1996 concluded that 85% of the people sentenced under the "Three Strikes" law received their third strike for a non-violent crime. With the passage of "Three strikes" some argued that it would ignite an increase in violence against law enforcement officers, putting them in danger as they tried to maintain public safety. This committee was moderate or even moderately conservative, but because Willie Brown had the power to choose members of the committee he chose those people whom he thought would sway the vote towards a liberal direction, which did not reflect the philosophy of the whole assembly. With all of the opposition out there trying to tear this law down I believe that California can not afford to do without this law because it is saving our state money and lives. However there has been a significant drop in the crime rate. The men knew they had to keep it simple because they knew people would not vote for something they could not understand. 2% of the inmates (35,411), were imprisoned for second- and third-strike convictions. He swore to the people listening that he was going to do something about the problem, even if it takes him forever.
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