The 'Three Strikes' Law in the United States - a Critique

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the Three Strikes Law introduced in the USA as an effort to 'get tough' on crime. Over the years, it was seen that the law had no impact on crime rates or the nature of offenses as other states continued to follow the example set by California. The author intended that this paper would express the flimsiness of a law seeming rooted in deterrence but in fact he has revealed less reported and important surrounding matters.

Outline:
Introduction
The Failure of Three Strikes Law
Kinds of Crime - the Crack Revolution
Alleged Alternatives
Laws as Seen by Offenders
Concluding Discussion

From the Paper:

" Approaches to 'getting tough' on crime in the United States of the 1990s showed commitment to what seems deterrence, as in the Three Strikes effort permitting tough sentences for repeat offenders. Over years, it was see that the law had no impact on crime rates or the nature of offenses as states continued to follow the example of California in 1994, towards varied crime statistics verifying, yet again, the ineffectiveness of deterrence models. What is absent from this kind of research is exploration of what Three Strike laws have been intended to achieve. One grows used to material empathizing with offenders affected by the law who serve inordinately long sentences for perhaps minor crimes. (See Abramsky 2002, Cole 1999) What tends to be missing concerns why this legislation was passed and the groups that favoured it. The message handed down by the Three Strikes law was one of society's non-tolerance for crime whereas the criminological message can fail to understand that criminality is opposed from within affected areas apt to support draconian legislation towards incarceration. What began as a paper expressing the flimsiness of a law seeming rooted in deterrence soon revealed less reported and important surrounding matters."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Abramsky, S. Hard Time Blues - How Politics Built a Prison System. NY: St. Martin's, 2002.
• Alvarez, A. and R. Bachman. "Predicting the Fear of Assault at School and While going to and from school in an adolescent population." Violence and Victims. 12. (1997): 69-85.
• Anderson, E. "Violence and the Inner City Street Code," in J. McCord. Ed. Violence and Childhood in the Inner City. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Applegate, B., F. Cullen Et Al. "Assessing Public Support for Three Strikes and You're Out Laws - Global vs Specific Attitudes". Crime & Delinquency. 42. (1996): 517-524.
• Arnette, J.L. and M.C. Lualseben. Combating Fear and Restoring Safety in Schools. Washington: U.S. Department of Justice, 1998.

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• Argumentative Essay # 119359 : "The Three Strikes Law"
• Persuasive Essay # 94194 : "The Three Strikes Law"

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