Three Strikes and You're Out: The Implementation and Impact of Strike Laws

摘要

Over the past few years 24 states and Congress have passed legislation under the slogan of Three Strikes and You're Out. As part of the general political thrust to mandate increasingly tougher prison terms for repeat offenders, this form of legislation seeks to ensure that habitual offenders receive the toughest sentence available to the state absent the death penalty - life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. This report reviews the impact these laws have had on crime and the criminal justice system. Surprisingly, with the noted exception of California, there has been virtually no impact on the courts, local jails or state prisons. Nor does there appear to be an impact on crime rates. Even in California where the law was expected to have a major impact it appears that all of the projections were in error. The report proffers that this form of legislation was carefully crafted to be largely symbolic. However, the gross errors in predicting the impact of these and other laws by some of the most prestigious researchers underscore how little we know about change within the criminal justice system. The common theme that emerges from this report is that the impact of three strikes has been less than anticipated, as the courts, and in particular the prosecutors, have taken steps to minimize the potential effects of the new laws.