Three Strikes and You're Out!: The Political Sentencing Game

• NCJ Number: 154279
• Journal: Federal Probation Volume: 59 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1995) Pages: 3-9
• Author(s): P J Benekos; A V Merlo
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reviews the ideological and political context of recent sentencing reforms, notably "three strikes and you're out"; examines "get-tough" sentencing legislation in three States; and considers the consequences of increasing sentencing severity.

Abstract

The recent initiatives to mandate life sentences for three- time convicted felons are responses to the public's fear of crime and frustration with the criminal justice system; they reflect the continuation of politicized crime policy. The recently enacted Federal crime bill and the Washington State, California, and Georgia statutes that mandate "baseball" sentencing are the latest episodes in the search for the "quick fix" to a complicated and disturbing social problem. These attempts to prevent crime, however, are misguided and will prove to be far more costly and ineffective than their proponents and the public could have anticipated. These laws will impose considerable systemic costs on an already overburdened court system. Efficient case processing relies extensively on plea agreements that eliminate the necessity of costly trials. Under the "three- strikes" mandate, however, there is little incentive for an offender to plead guilty to any charges that could result in longer periods of incarceration. If offenders know that pleading guilty will record a first or second strike, let alone a third, there is a greater likelihood that they will demand a trial. This pattern will require additional funding for more prosecutors, judges, and court administrative and support staff. Also included in the recently enacted Federal legislation is a provision to try as adults those juveniles who are 13 years old and charged with certain violent crimes. It will thus be possible for the first strike to be imposed as early as age 13. Research and commentary on the consequences of "baseball" punishment suggest that prison populations will continue to grow, corrections expenditures will consume larger percentages of government budgets, and sentence severity will have no discernible effect on the crime rate. 62 references