Report: Three-strikes law imprisons more than other states

By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer
Last Updated 6:45 am PDT Friday, September 24, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) - California imprisons more felons under its three-strikes law than almost every other three-strikes state combined, a report by an advocacy group found.

The report's authors and other three-strikes opponents cited the data as evidence that California's toughest-in-the-nation law is draconian and must be reformed.

"It's shameful that a state like California would incarcerate under three strikes 42,000 people, many for nonviolent offenses, the majority African-American males," Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland said Thursday.

But supporters of the status quo said the report only proves that California's tough law is working by putting large numbers of criminals behind bars.

"That study is actually very reinforcing to California's policy," said Mike Reynolds, the Fresno man whose daughter's murder inspired the state's three-strikes initiative. "If you're not willing to lock up criminals you're not going to stop crime."

California voters will have the chance to change their sentencing law Nov. 2 when they cast ballots on Proposition 66, which would amend the law to require the third strike offense to be a serious or violent felony. Presently, any felony can constitute a third strike, including crimes like burglary and nonresidential arson that would not count as third strikes if Proposition 66 passes. The measure would also make inmates whose third strike wasn't serious or violent eligible for re-sentencing.

The new report, releasted Thursday by the Washington-based Justice Policy Institute, which promotes alternatives to incarceration, could serve as fuel for both sides.

According to the report, 23 states have three-strikes laws, many of them, like California's, enacted in 1994 when crime fears were peaking around the country. Others were enacted within the next few years. Imprisonment data was available for 21 of the states, and showed that 14 of them had fewer than 100 people imprisoned under three-strikes laws.

Only three states had more than 400 people imprisoned under three strikes: California with 42,322 inmates, Georgia with 7,631 and Florida with 1,628. Combined, the 21 states where imprisonment data was available have a population of 112 million people, and had 10,624 people incarcerated under three strikes. California's population is 35 million.

The numbers cover all inmates imprisoned under three-strikes provisions, whether for second, third or even fourth strikes - a provision that exists in several states. Of California's total, 7,372 were incarcerated on their third strike as of March 31.

The authors said the findings shouldn't be surprising because every state that enacted a three-strikes law already had repeat-offender laws on the books, and for many states three strikes made little change.

California is the only state where any felony can trigger a life sentence as a third strike, and the report's authors said the data shows the state is out of step.

"For most states they barely use it, but California has fallen into the ocean in terms of its three-strikes use," said Justice Policy Institute executive director Vincent Schiraldi, a report co-author.

Three strikes supporters and opponents will also each find favorable news in the report's findings on crime rates in states with three-strikes laws compared to states without them.

The report cited FBI crime statistics showing that violent crimes and homicides declined faster in non-strike states between 1993 and 2002 than in states with three-strikes laws. But the overall crime index fell faster in states with three-strikes laws.

The report's authors compared California's crime numbers to New York's, which has no three-strikes law. New York's overall crime index fell 50 percent from 1993-2002, while California's fell only 39 percent.

But Reynolds noted that New York is the only state that has seen a faster drop in crime than California, which he credited to a crime crackdown in New York City under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

"California has outperformed every other state in the union with the exception of New York, and it's literally reduced crime at twice the national rate," Reynolds said.