In Defense of Three-Strikes: Analyzing the Impact of California's 1994 Anti-Crime Measures

• NCJ Number: 164113
• Author(s): R J Pestritto Jr
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: California Assembly
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The significant increase in California's mandated criminal punishment has resulted largely from three legislative measures: three strikes law, one strike rape law, and reform of good time credits for State prisoners.

Abstract

While most attention has been paid to the three strikes law and the one strike law, the reform of good time credits, also known as truth in sentencing, has been an important anticrime measure. Truth in sentencing essentially gives teeth to other important anticrime measures by drastically reducing the disparity between the sentence prescribed by law and the actual time served by violent offenders. Without truth in sentencing, citizens and lawmakers have no assurance that tough new penalties enacted in three strikes and one strike laws will actually cause prisoners to serve longer terms. California's truth in sentencing law restricts good time credits to a maximum of 15 percent of the offender's sentence. The one strike rape law provides that offenders guilty of felonious forcible sexual assault must be sentenced to a minimum term of 25 years to life on the first offense, if the assault includes any of the following: prior felony conviction on a sexual offense, aggravated mayhem, torture, and certain categories of kidnapping or burglary. Offenders guilty of felonious forcible sexual assault must be sentenced to a minimum term of 15 years to life on the first offense, if the assault includes any of the following: great bodily injury, dangerous or deadly weapon, attack on more than one victim, tying or binding of the victim, forcing a controlled substance on the victim, and certain categories of kidnapping or burglary. California's three strikes law provides for punishing those convicted of any felony and reserves the most severe prison terms for those who have previously committed serious or violent felonies. The anticrime movement in California is reviewed, and arguments for and against the three strikes law and other anticrime measures are noted. 20 endnotes and 1 table