After a total of ten years in prison Eric Barr was demonstrating a proper rehabilitative lifestyle. He got a job, and checked in with his probation officer accordingly. Eric was surprised when he found police officers waiting to take him into custody at his place of employment. Understanding that the three strikes law was in full effect and that he was one strike away from a life behind bars, Eric, obviously, inadvertently broke his probation and is now serving an outlandish sentence. Eric Barr and many other people are paying for California's crime phobia.

The popular three strikes initiative, which Californian's easily passed into law by a 72% margin in the November 1994 election

A similar Court case to Eric's was Solem v. Helm (1983). In 1979, Jerry Helm was convicted in South Dakota of writing a bad check for $100. Ordinarily the maximum punishment for that crime would have been five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. However, Helm was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole because he had six prior felony convictions. He was convicted three times of third-degree burglary, once for obtaining money under false pretenses, once for grand larceny and a third-offense driving while intoxicated charge. Court records contained no information about the circumstances of any of these offenses, except that they were all nonviolent crimes not directly intended to harm anyone. The Supreme Court looked at the different aspects of Helm's crime. They examined the nature of his offense, the nature of his sentence, and the sentence he could have received in other States for the same offense. The Supreme Court concluded that on the basis of Helm's crime, it was "grossly disproportionate to the nature of his offense." Helm's crime for writing a bad check was as minute as Barr's failing to report a change of address to his probation officer. These cases are distinctively similar except that Helm's was able to commit twice as many felonies as Barr and the Supreme Court still decided that his sentence unconstitutional. We can not let the courts sentence people to life in prison for small crimes like this. This is not a just system that will give equal sentences to all people. If a judge is in a bad mood he has the authority to put an undeserving criminal away for the rest of his life

usual bail amount and refuse bail for third-strike offenders. These bail changes, coupled with more offenders taking their cases to trial, result in more offenders being incarcerated in county jail.

The sentencing guidelines for California's three strikes law are ridiculously rigid and are putting to non-deserving people away for the rest of their lives. The felons personal characteristics are not even necessarily relevant. It doesn't matter whether or not somebody has been employed for the last 30 years, raised three children, and contributed thousands of volunteer hours to charity. Th

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1504
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)