Three-Strike Law Essay - 2750 Words

Three-Strike Law (Essay Sample) Content: Three-Strike LawNameInstructorCourseDatePurposeThe three strikes of law is a law currently followed in the United States, which requires a repeat offender to be given a longer, harsher punishment if the/she is apprehended for the third time. The purpose of this research is to understand the rule and establish whether Americans support the law or not, there have been different opinions by different people as to whether the law is effective in its purpose of discouraging repeat offenders from breaking the law again. Ever since the first piece of legislation was established in the USA, the effectiveness of the three strikes law has been a topic of contention among researchers. The law also causes uproar between lawmakers and also not forgetting between US citizens, some people do not understand nor support the notion of incarcerating a person for life when they have only committed petty crimes like stealing a dollar or trespassing. On the other hand there are those who b elieve that repeat offenders commit more crimes after release, this accusation is not mislead, studies have shown that more than 500,000 crimes in the USA only were committed by repeat offenders within one year, and over half were committed by career criminals with more than 25 previous offences. These career criminals are often persecuted for capital crimes like rape, armed robbery and murder. The research is going to establish why an overwhelming number of people, approximately 72% voted in favour of keeping the law, while 28%, not such a great figure voted to kick the law out. The research will give the perspective of whether the law is worth the financial outlay, persecuting repeat offenders even for petty crimes has greatly increased the number of convicts in American correctional facilities. Since establishment of the law many offenders have been apprehended and persecuted for life imprisonment and other long sentences, this many numbers of persecutions have taken a toll on Am erican correctional facilities the financial outlay has risen to 19$ billion since the inception of the law. Of these persecutions, many are persecuted for no-violent petty crimes. These crimes can be punished through minor punishments like fines or community service. The law also incorporates the disabled and the mentally impaired, which might be impartial and non-considerate. Steps have been taken to remove some clauses in the law which are the most damning like sentencing of non-serious offenders life imprisonment, consequently 1000 prisoners have been released from custody and this has reduced the financial outlay by prisons by approximately 1$ billion.BodyThis research is conducted in the USA, conducted to establish whether the research the law is effective as per the reason for its enactment. The research will also seek to establish how baseball catch phrase was designed to appeal to voters and put fear into career criminals discouragingthem from committing these crimes.USA ha s the largest number of prisoners in the world 1.57 million to be precise, this the prevalence of crime in the country. Many efforts were having been taken to try to curb this trend, and the law of three strikes is one of them. The law of three strikes is not viable in todayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s world; it needs to be done with.The law of three strikes is outdated and is not really a deterrent to violent crimes. Violent crimes are not premeditated, most are not planned, they happen. Violent crimes are impulse mitigated; they are crimes of passion, under the influence of alcohol or drugs. These types of crimes are not going to be hampered by the threat of life imprisonment, crimes like this are brewed out anger, and anger is an impulse reaction. The makers of the three strikes law did not consider the fact that most criminals commit crime with no anticipation of being caught. It is estimated there were 386.3 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants in the USA in 2010 according to the FBI, and of these damning statistics; many were new offenders with no record of violent crimes. 5, 340,000 violent crimes were committed in the US in 2008, these statistics show that though most states have the law of three-strike put in place the number of crimes committed has not reduced by much, the law is not very effective. In September 2012, the FBI released Uniform Crime Report, which documented 1.2 million, violent crimes in the US roughly 1% more than 2011, a slight increase on crime supposed to be curbed by three strikes law.Other than the financial implication of this law, researches have been established and many people and especially law enforcers fear that this law could spark encourage more violence and unrest. Criminals facing the prospect of a lengthy sentence in jail or life imprisonment will be more likely to resist arrest, kill witnesses or attempt prison escape; they will understand they have nothing to lose. Attempts on police and correctional officers will raise indefini tely.The three strikes law place criminals in à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"fixà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬, committing crime becomes a way of establishing their dominance on the police. The three strikes law may also be used for malicious purposes, a reformed criminal with two strikes may be lured into committing a petty crime like trespassing and DUI, with the intentional of the manipulator to get the reformed criminal persecuted and sentenced for life imprisonment. The law of three strikes places a reformed offender in fear.The law of three strikes undermines the power of a judge; sentencing discretion is taken away from the judge. The law of three strikes dictates the sentence and conditions of the sentence, this are the functions of a judge as pertained in the constitution of the USA. Under article III of the constitution, the judge has power over sentencing; this power is taken away by the three strikes law. This law does not regard the opinion of the judge as viable. Judges have the duty of deciding whether a person is guilty or not guilty, and they have the mandate to decide whether the crime committed was intentional or not intentional. In as well as taking away the constitution mandate of the judge of giving a fair sentence the law also take away the right of the offender to plead his/her innocence. The crime might have because of an accident or mental lapse but the offender is not allowed the constitutional right to defend him or herself, they are apprehended and sentenced because of the previously committed crimes. Three strikes law violets the constitutional rights of the judges and the constitutional rights of the offender.The constitutional rights of inmates are also parried away. To rerun the point on financial implications of the law. Studies have established that it take 20,000$ to cater for one physically fit offender. This is a lot of money catering for someone not adding to the productivity of the country, the burden of providing for this inmate is on the taxpayer. It ta kes 60,000 to cater for an older offender 60 years and above, this is also a lot of money and the burden is let on the taxpayer. The three strikes law is adding to the already strained resources of US correctional facilities, the prison population is burgeoning and becomes more expensive to cater for. The government cannot fully provide for the population in due time and is forced to constrain resources in an effort to keep the prisons running.This means rationing of food in prisons, delay in provision of important provisions like medication this is a violation of the prisonerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s right. Considering most of the offenders will be locked up for life, the situation at the prisons will be dire and will be difficult to change or correct, the prisons will continue deteriorating. The prisons also offer no chance of rehabilitation for the offender; the offender will not get the opportunity to divulge from his/her wayward ways, they will not get the opportunity to get a positive look on life.According to the rights of an individual, any crime committed by an individual should be able to fit the crime. The justice system is all about giving a crime its equivalent punishment. The strikes law will not recognise the constitutional right every crime will be judged in accordance to the crimes committed by the offender or the record held by the offender. Burglary for example should not warrant a life sentence without parole, these relatively minor offenses should be dealt with considerably minor punishments. The principle of proportionality is clearly in the eighth amendment to the bill of rights;"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflictedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . The law of three strikes is a violation of constitutional rights and should be reformed or ridden off.Review of LiteratureRobert Nash Parker CITATION Rob12 \n \t \l 1033 (2012), a sociologist from UC riverside wrote an article on the effect of thr ee strikes of law in California. He argued that the law has failed to reduce the rate of crimes in the state. Though there has been considerable reduction in the level of crimes in the area, he does not attribute this to the law. Instead, he observes the law in a negative way in that it has led to negative financial woes to both the federal government and the state government. This is because the law has increased the prison population. Robert attributes the decline of crime in California to the reduction in alcohol consumption and not on draconian and hard-hitting policies such as three-strikes of law. Alcohol consumption correlates to homicide rates in the Country, which peaked in 1982 and has been on the drop since then. This may be a valid explanation since the writer is a known researcher on the relationship between crime and alcohol consumption. His conclusions are therefore supported by tangible findings. The rate of crimes in California has reduced by half since th...