The Current 3-Strikes Law Will Increase Crime
With limited prison space, many serious and violent felons who have only
been convicted once or twice or were imprisoned prior to the 3-Strikes law are
being let out to make room for many nonviolent 3-Strikers. Letting out the more
serious and violent offenders for nonviolent offenders will increase the costs
to society because they are more likely to commit more serious and violent
felonies than the nonviolent 3-Strikers.
Another factor to look at is that by disproportionately increasing the
amount of punishment that a person will get for committing a minor offense (if
someone already has 2-Strikes), offenders will try all the harder not to get
caught when committing future crimes. Therefore, if a 2-Striker commits a crime
and is confronted by witnesses or the police, he or she will probably try
harder to evade or eliminate such witnesses and police officers.
Another issue is that many of the 3-Strikers are from families that were
already having a tough time trying to make ends meet. Having a family member in
prison (especially a father) will only increase the problem. In addition,
because of the perceived injustice of the sentence, the remaining family
members will have stronger animosity towards society and will be less likely to
conform to the laws of that society. The cycle of crime committed by many
3-Strike families will therefore be increased long into the future.
Another consequence of the 3-Strikes law is that people who are locked up
for 25 years or more will become very institutionalized to the prison system
and will not be able to adapt to society when they get out. It will be very
difficult to obtain a decent job and they will not have much of a support group
(families and friends will have left and died off). The 3-Strikers may commit
crimes as a "no lose gamble" because they might feel better to be
back in prison where they had adapted to its life-style.
Another broader argument is that 3-Strikes is simply another
"top-down" edict by government that is eroding our "free
society" and does not teach people personal morality. Friederich Hayek's
concept of "spontaneous order" is once again weakened. A
"spontaneous order" is a civil order that arises from the interaction
of free people responding to the growing complexity of civilization. The
"free society" is based on the capacity of people to govern
themselves, which is based on a personal moral and ethical underpinning. Such
personal morality and the sense of personal responsibility that reinforces it
is more often weakened than strengthened by top-down, sometimes arbitrary,
edicts of government that diffuse responsibility for the consequences of one's
actions. If personal morality in a society is constantly weakened, then one
would expect crime to actually increase in the long-run.
The following are some statistics and comments from books and articles on
the possibility that crime may actually increase because of the 3-Strikes law.
PLEASE SEND US NEW DATA AND ARTICLES IF YOU HAVE THEM.
Study shows that 3-Strikes law is causing police
officers their lives
Lt. Michael J. Stedman said he has found evidence linking the 3-Strikes law
to increased violence against police officers. Six killings of officers
statewide since 1994 can be tied, at least partially to the law.
Stedman said his research seems to show what officers statewide from Jan.
1, 1990, to Dec. 31, 1996.
Sam Mistrano, former legislative director from the American Civil Liberties
Union, said that as more people become aware of the 3-Strikes law, more police
officers will experience violence from resisting suspects. The ACLU opposed
3-Strikes, Mistrano said, because it feared the law would increase violence
against police and citizens. "This is one of the things that we predicted
that has been coming true," Mistrano said.
OCRegister, 11/17/97.
Potential 3-Striker assaults officers in attempt to
escape from custody
Frank Robert Romo was arrested Sept. 30, 1998, after a brief escape from
custody. During the escape, he wounded Reedley police officer John Gomez and
Explorer Scout Justin Urbano, 19. Police said Romo, of Dinuba, was being
transported to Fresno County Jail after being arrested on assault charges.
When the patrol car stopped at a red light, Romo produced a gun and began
firing. Gomez and Urbano - who was on a ride-along with the officer - were
wounded before they escaped from the car. Romo then drove off in the vehicle
but was captured about six hours later outside a service station near Highway
99 when a citizen noticed a man wearing handcuffs trying to steal a car.
In an interview with The Bee, Romo said he tried to escape because he
couldn't face a life sentence (his priors were for robbery and attempted
murder). "I couldn't fathom spending the rest of my life in prison,"
Romo said. "That Three Strikes makes a lot of people do stuff. It's
surprising it doesn't happen more." "Defendant admits his guilt in
the 'third strike' case," by Stevan Rosenlind, The Fresno Bee,
11/10/98.
Police fatalities up 27% in U.S. in 1997
Police fatalities were up 27% in the U.S. in 1997. Fox News reports that LA
County Deputies blamed the 3-Strikes law for the increase in violence in
California. "We find more and more guys armed and they don't care,"
said Deputy John Keiss. "They are going to fight you as much as they can
because they don't want to go back to prison," said Deputy Brian Torfney.
Fox News, Channel 11, 10:00 p.m., 2/13/98.
Former inmate writes book about how the 3-Strikes law
will cause murder.
Edward Bunker has written a novel called "Dog Eat Dog," that
exposes the flaws of California's harsh 3-Strikes law. As Bunker sees it, while
the law may deter some crime, it will also cause murder.
Bunker, 60, committed bank robberies and was put in prison and jails during
his younger days.
"I wrote this book because this country knows it's in trouble, but has
no idea why or what to do about it," he said. "They plant the seed of
crime, nurture the growing plant, then scream at the harvest. You cannot sow
hemlock and expect to reap wheat."
Bunker believes that we are what we have been taught to be.
"The demagogues are playing on fear," he said, "and telling
the lie that harsher laws and longer prison terms will make us safe. We already
have a much, much greater percentage of our citizens serving much longer terms
than any industrialized country. The only way we can have safety that way is
with a neo-fascist police state."
The 3-Strikes law is already costing lives, he believes, as those
committing even minor crimes kill potential witnesses rather than risk that
third conviction. OC-LATimes,
8/21/96.
Inmate says convicts will turn on guards and law
enforcement unless 3-Strikes abolished.
Carlos Bandino, 42, facing "third strike" charges that could send
him away for life said "If this 'three-strikes' law is not abolished, [the
inmates] are going to go up against the [guards]. That's what I hear through
the grapevine . . . coming down from the state [prison] system: a green light
on everything."
"If law enforcement's going out of their way to crack somebody and put
them away for life, that's pretty much what it's coming to--the convicts versus
enforcement," he said. LA-Times, 5/19/96.
3-Strikes law similar to Lindbergh law
Gilbert Geis, a professor emeritus of criminology at the University of
California, Irvine, compares the 3-Strikes law with the Lindbergh law, passed
after aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh's baby was kidnapped and murdered in
1932. The law made kidnapping a capital crime, even if the victim was not
harmed. The result was that, faced with the death penalty no matter what,
kidnappers started killing more victims. The law later was changed to require
the death penalty only if the victim was murdered.
OCRegister, 11/20/97
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3-Strikes.
Date last modified: 12/2/98.
