Twenty years ago, California voters overwhelmingly passed the “three strikes” law that has come to symbolize America’s deeply irrational and misguided obsession with harsh and inflexible sentencing. It set a life sentence for anyone with a third felony conviction, no matter how minor or nonviolent — even for stealing a pair of socks.
The law contributed to a dramatic increase in California’s prison population, which grew so far beyond capacity that in 2011 the Supreme Court ruled that horrendous prison conditions violated the Constitution. In 2012, Californians voted to soften the law, allowing prisoners whose third strike was a nonserious and nonviolent crime to seek early release. Since December 2012, about 1,500 inmates have been released under the amended law. Their recidivism rates so far are a fraction of the state average.
A Sentencing Commission for California
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