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for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Sun, 14 Nov 1999 18:23:43 -0500 (EST)
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 18:23:42 EST
Subject: 'DIPITY Three Strikes Law/Crusade On To Alter Tough Law
[EMAIL PROTECTED] replies:
Crusade is on to alter tough law
http://www.uniontribune.com/news/metro/991114-0010_1m14strikes.html
(entire story at above Link)
Families call lengthy prison sentences unfair
By Michael Stetz
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 14, 1999
This is what Patsy Knights is asking, and she knows she is asking a lot:
She wants you to feel for criminals.
She wants you to feel for her son.
Her son, a former high school football and track star.
Her son, the young man she would later see in the streets, disheveled and on
drugs.
Her son, Christopher Roberts, sentenced in 1995 under California's "three
strikes" law after being convicted of taking part in an assault and armed
robbery.
It put him behind bars for 135 years to life.
Here, the North Park woman pauses.
She takes a breath.
Her son did wrong, she says.
He should pay.
"But let the punishment fit the crime," said Knights, who has started a San
Diego chapter of a statewide organization called Families to Amend
California's Three Strikes, or FACTS.
The law is a get-tough, controversial one that supporters say has drastically
reduced crime in California by getting career criminals off the street.
They argue that it's a critical weapon in the war against violent crime.
Someone with two past convictions for serious or violent felonies, such as
murder, rape or burglary, gets a minimum sentence of 25 years to life if
convicted of a third offense.
The last strike doesn't have to be a violent one, though. The law can apply
if a repeat felon commits a petty crime, such as shoplifting or possession of
a small amount of drugs.
It can also double the prison sentence of a person with one strike who
commits a fresh felony.
FACTS wants the law changed so that the third strike has to be a violent or
serious one, to ensure it snares violent offenders only.
Knights' fight is spurred not just by her son's plight, she said. Any reform
-- which is unlikely, experts say, given society's hard-line attitude against
criminals -- will do him little good. Roberts' last strike was violent.
Knights, a retired Los Angeles County employee and Mesa College graduate,
says changes can occur if people learn more about the law and its
implications.
The law has had overwhelming public support. In 1994, more than 70 percent of
California voters endorsed it as a ballot proposition.
And that support remains strong -- if the last strike is for a violent
offense -- according to a survey released only days ago by the University of
California Riverside.
More than 90 percent of those polled said the law should apply to those
committing a third violent felony. But that support fell significantly when
people were asked if the punishment should apply to those convicted of drug
and property crimes.
Also, last week, a University of California Berkeley law professor released a
study that argued the law has not been a deterrent. He tracked felony arrests
in three large California cities, including San Diego, before and after the
law's enactment and found no significant changes.
Knights is not the only resident of the San Diego region fighting the law.
Vista's Tye Smith recently started a similar chapter in North County. Her
son, Josh, is serving a two-year state prison sentence for robbery and
burglary. While the sentence doesn't seem harsh, he racked up two strikes
from the crimes as a result of a plea bargain that spared him the possibility
of a longer prison sentence.
One more strike and he could be out. He is 19.
"If he writes one bad check ... ." Smith said.
Knights and others say voters who approved the law are getting more than they
bargained for: crowded prisons, more tax revenue earmarked for prison
construction, and an angrier and more disenchanted prison population.
"It's doing no good, no good at all."
Others disagree.
Supporters say three strikes has been a key factor in the 28 percent drop in
the crime rate the San Diego region has witnessed over the past few years.
They dismissed the recent academic study, saying criminals are in tune with
the law and are leaving California rather than risking arrest.
Many prosecutors say it has sent a message: Habitual crime will not be
tolerated.
<SNIP> Entire article at Link above
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine
of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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