October 3, 1997
Jerry McGuire
1021 "O" Street
Suite A198
Sacramento, CA
95814-5178
(916) 445-3268
Re: Families to Amend California's 3-Strikes (FACTS) participation at
the Assembly
Committee Hearing on Oct. 14th in Los Angeles.
Dear Mr. McGuire:
This letter is in response to our telephone conversation on October 3rd. As we discussed, I am a representative of Families to Amend California's 3-Strikes ("FACTS"). FACTS is an organization that represents the people who have been caught in the 3-Strikes net who have not demonstrated a history of actual violence towards other people. In addition, we also represent special concerns for the poor and minorities who have been disproportionately caught in the 3-Strikes net. FACTS does not represent those who committed acts of murder, voluntary manslaughter, mayhem, rape, child molestation, sodomy by force, oral copulation by force, or the other extremely violent acts that helped promote and propel the 3-Strikes legislation to be passed (all such acts are defined hereafter as "Extremely Violent Acts").
Because the assembly committee hearing to be held in Los Angeles on October 14th is to discuss tightening the discretion that judges are currently allowed for the 3-Strikes law based on the Romero decision, and such decisions are most likely to affect the people we represent, we would appreciate it if FACTS could be as much a part of the hearing as possible.
FACTS considers the 3-Strikes law to be unjust for the people we represent. Therefore, to the extent that judges are allowed to use their discretion to prevent such an injustice, we believe such discretion should not only be allowed, but such discretion should be encouraged (in fact, we believe the 3-Strikes law should be amended so that judges are not allowed to use 3-Strikes at all on the people we represent).
You had mentioned that the hearing will be discussing some philosophical issues concerning the proposed amendment. We believe that we can give not only philosophical support opposing the proposed amendment, but add to the economic issues as well.
We believe that this amendment revolves on the issue of whether the 3-Strikes law can impose "unjust punishments" on people (of which the Romero decision allows judges to then use their discretion). We believe we can show that the 3-Strikes law not only can be used in an "unjust" manner, but we have family members to demonstrate it already has been used in an "unjust" manner.
We believe the 3-Strikes law is unjust because the law imposes severe penalties on people who have caused very little harm to society, and, therefore, the law is severely punishing people for what they "might" do rather than what they have "actually" done.
At the hearing we would like to present the following arguments and evidence: (1) extreme punishment should not be given to people for what they "might" do, but rather extreme punishment should only be given for what people have "actually" done; (2) even if the State of California holds that people can be punished extremely for what they "might" do, there is no evidence that some of the people that can be convicted under the 3-Strikes law would, in fact, cause serious harm to society if they were not convicted under the 3-Strikes law, and (3) demonstrate through statements of family members and friends of current 3-Strike prisoners (and letters from 3-Strike prisoners), that there already have been people convicted under the 3-Strikes law that do not represent a threat to society for what they "might" do and do not deserve to be convicted under the 3-Strikes law for what they have "actually" done.
Economically, we will also argue that because the California Department of Corrections’ prisons are currently over 180% in capacity (which may result in early releases for some inmates), we believe that the state should use its prison cells for people who are more likely to commit Extremely Violent Acts and thus more harm to society rather than the people FACTS represents.
If you are setting an agenda of speakers, we would appreciate having as many people as possible being a part of the agenda. In addition, we would also like to distribute papers presenting our arguments and evidence to as many members of the hearing as possible.
Sincerely,
Douglas W. Kieso
Please send questions or comments to factsla@sbcglobal.net.
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Date last modified: 10/15/97.