Three Strikes Get Tough Essay

Do Three Strikes Sentencing Laws/ “Get Tough” Approaches Work? It would be safe to assume that most individuals agree that those who commit crimes must deal with the consequences of their law breaking actions. Despite efforts to reduce crime by the traditional form of punishment through incarceration, some criminals continue to live felonious lives. This not only poses a problem on their behave but also that of the communities in which they live and are offending. The state of California was determined to conjure a method of reducing the recidivism of violent felons. Consequently, California legislatures agreed to install a plan of action, which evolved, to their “three strikes” sentencing law. This creation of the “three strikes” fundamentally means that those who are found guilty of serious felonies for a third time are at risk of being locked up for 25 years to life. Life is all about consequences and those who choose to disobey the law must own up to and face their punishments. Criminals who are repeatedly in and out of the justice system need to be taken seriously, and punished as such. Individuals who oppose the three strikes laws argue that the law is costly to enforce due to the fact that keeping people
He reiterates that criminals may get away with committing several crimes and not be convicted. This leads into his point that it’s certainly a large process to even get one conviction so those who are applicable under this law, it is safe to assume that they have committed far more crimes than just three (Messerli, 2012). This furthers the argument that those who are sentenced under the three strikes law are likely career criminals who are not willing to change their way of life for the justice system. With the current system of offenders going in and out the revolving door of the prisons, those offenders continue to get more opportunities to commit