Business Law
Justice at Bat
The Story of Three Strikes Legislation
It has been said that only two things are certain - death and taxes. Yet to these two inevitabilities, many Americans would add a third -- crime. The fear of becoming the victim of a crime - especially of a violent crime - haunts many otherwise rational individuals. Violence, it seems, is everywhere. One need only turn on the television to be assailed by images of murder, rape, and physical assault. And, it is not only Hollywood that is the villain. Both local and national newscasts revel in the depiction and discussion of violent acts: a child is kidnapped; a pregnant housewife disappears and is later found murdered; a ruthless killer stalks the streets of a large city. The media like to quote facts. Just yesterday, on April 27th, it was reported that the murder rate in California's most populous urban areas had increased by eleven percent, this despite years of noticeable declines. The sudden upsurge was attributed to the State and the nation's, faltering economy. But, many Californians are not convinced. Nor were they convinced by the multitude of theories that were put forth to explain the skyrocketing crime rates of the 1970s and 1980s. Joblessness, drug use, and lack of education may indeed inspire some to commit violent and antisocial acts; however, to a majority of citizens in the Golden State, the root cause of such behavior is much simpler. Like the Eighteenth Century Englishman who penned Hanging Not Punishment Enough, they hold firmly to the idea that an increase in criminal activity is fundamentally linked to the lack of a strong deterrent. The anonymous author of that pamphlet advocated the replacement of the "relatively painless" punishment of hanging with more brutal forms of capital punishment, such as for example, breaking on the wheel. While few would go so far today, there does seem to be a consensus that today's "revolving door" justice is simply not enough. The solution? Many seek the stringent application of capital punishment, or at the very least, stern "three strikes" legislation - laws that would eliminate violent offenders from society one way or the other.
In some states, such as California, an attempt has been made to "balance" the two approaches. Initially, California's Three Strikes movement enjoyed only scant success. While many concerned citizens signed petitions, Governor Pete Wilson continually refused to sign the measure. However, in keeping with the general mood of public anxiety over crime, the media experienced no shortfall of inflammatory images. Help quickly arrived in the form of the Polly Klaas kidnapping case.
In 1993, a terrible tragedy occurred. It was one of those sensational crimes that serves the media in its effort to boost profits. Polly Klaas, a twelve-year-old girl, was abducted during a slumber party at her suburban home in Petaluma, California. Klaas was eventually found murdered, but not before the local and national media had thrown the story into the spotlight. Night after night, week after week, Californians and the rest of America watched as Polly's father made emotional pleas for information on his daughter's whereabouts. Eventually, a man named Richard Allen Davis was arrested and admitted to the kidnapping and murder. Davis had been previously arrested for burglary and kidnapping"
Davis was, therefore, the prefect candidate for Three Strikes poster boy. Davis' notorious career was quickly seized upon by Mike Reynolds, a Fresno photographer whose daughter had also been murdered by a parolee. For years, he had been a leading advocate for the Three Strikes Law.
The Klaas case...worked the electorate into an anti-criminal lather. Wilson and a senior California senator both spoke at the little girl's funeral. They turned the Klaas case into an example of everything that was supposedly wrong with the justice system. Even President Clinton singled out the Klaas case in his State of the Union Address, blaming leniency and softheadedness on crime as the cause for Polly's death.
Within a few weeks of Polly's murder, nearly every candidate running for a major California office, regardless of party affiliation, had endorsed Reynolds's three strikes initiative. And why not? Due to the massive media exposure in the Klaas case, polls showed that California voters believed that crime was the state's single biggest problem and that they were now in...
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