ence strategies for reducing violent crime within our communities. Three Strikes laws impose long prison sentences for third felony convictions. These laws are designed to curb repetitive serious criminal behavior. Washington State enacted the first law of

t-parole option result in fewer death sentences, David Diroll, executive director of the criminal sentencing commission said, “Perhaps, it’s a tough call”. While the new law lengthens prison terms, it also accents the importance of programs designed to reduce the recidivism rate. When it comes to developing new laws that potentially do so much good and obtain all their objectives, the question of funding inevitably arises. It seems unlikely that Californians will put up with drastic reduction in governmental services, but increased taxes are decidedly unpopular. Clearly, something’s got to give. It may be the three-strike law itself. Criminal justice officials may simply not have the money to fully implement it. If that’s the case, lesser effective alternatives might need to be employed. Whatever the case may be three strikes and truth in sentencing legislation are deterrent strategies that could potentially be very successful in reducing violent !

this type in 1993. Since then, more than two-dozen states and the federal government have enacted three strikes laws. The state of Minnesota doesn't have an official three strikes law, although it does have a law mandating a life sentence for certain sexual offenders who commit a third sexual offense. Minnesota requires a mandatory sentence of "at least the length of the presumptive sentence under the sentencing guidelines" for persons convicted of two or more prior felony convictions for violent crimes. Also, Minnesota's heinous crimes law requires the court to sentence an offender convicted of second-or-third-degree murder to the statutory maximum sentence if the offender was discharged from a prior "heinous crime" sentenc!

#8217;re out” laws are examples of mandatory sentencing. In California, where they are most commonly used, the laws have resulted in clogging the courts, lowering rates of plea bargaining, and causing desperate offenders to violently resist arrest . As with all laws, there are the pros and cons that consequently follow them. One study has showed that the law did not have a large impact on the reduction in rates of serious crimes or petty theft. Research in Los Angeles has shown that the impact of the law hits African Americans the hardest. According to statistics, during the first six months 57% of those charged under the new law were African American, which happened to be 17 times the rate of Whites. One California study reported that 84% of a sample of three-strike offenders “had been convicted at least once for a violent crime,” as well as and average of five felonies a piece. This was revea

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1773
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)