Strike three... and YOU'RE OUT!

J

Jerrek

Registered Senior Member
The three strikes law in place in many states (including Soviet California) gives a judge the ability to sentence someone to longer periods of time in jail than what the crime calls for if the defendant keeps violating the law. The third strike is an automatic life imprisonment. And yes, I think this is a great way to keep society clean of the trash.



http://www.local6.com//news/2337839/detail.html

Judge Opposes $20 Life Sentence

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A judge reluctantly gave a man life in prison after a $20 burglary, saying he had no choice under a state law that requires such terms for repeat offenders.

Circuit Judge Bob Wattles called the punishment unjust and unfair.

"I don't have the authority or the power to not sentence you to life," Wattles told Maurice Leonard Reed, 37, of nearby Apopka, at his Tuesday sentencing.


Prosecutors had designated Reed a "prison release re-offender" under a state law that requires harsher penalties for some repeat offenders.

Reed was charged in February with robbery and burglary from an attempted undercover drug buy. He had jumped into an undercover officer's car and offered to sell him drugs. When the deputy was distracted, Reed snatched a $20 bill from his hand, hit him in the face and jumped out of the car.
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You do the crime, you do the time. If you can't learn the first two times, well, then it is over for you.
 
Dream or nightmare...

January 16th 2007, on news network :
A new law has been voted : "Strike three... and you're dead". This law called following the guy who asked for it, will change our life! Now, the third strike is an automatic death sentence.
The next step is coming next winter and should be a secret, but our journalist has discovered it : "One strike and you're dead". We are expecting an exclusive interview with our president (GW Bush) to talk about it...
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Hey, wake up Jerrek! I know that it would be the best day of your life, but I hope it will never happen. ("Oops you were sleeping in the street after a hard party... sorry but you will die!") :rolleyes:
 
Fortunately for you Jarrek it's not Canadian tax dollars that pay to keep these boys and girls inside.
As for 'trash' I think you'll find only poor trash go to jail while the rich educated trash carry on littering the street.
BTW (Hypothetical and off topic) What happens when a democracy imprisons 51% of its population? Is it still democracy?
Dee Cee
 
The three strikes law in California was voted in partly because the sponsors gave the distinct impression that it was for violent felonies only.
Only after it passed did it become clear that nonviolent felonies were included.
This has led to ludicrous examples where the third strike was for stealing shoes.
When it comes to drug posession, the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor can be a very small amount. Or it can simply be the difference of having your Cocaine in powder or crystalline form.
These laws tie the judges hands, leaving them with no discretion. The idea of having the punishment fit the crime goes right out the window.
And it is going to lead to very high prison costs as all of these lifers age and require medical care.
 
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If people KEEP ON committing crimes, then punishment must be adjusted accordingly. Once again you Europeans would rather support criminals than society. Tsk.
 
Once again you Europeans would rather support criminals than society
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And here's me thinking that criminality was a function of society. Maybe criminals come from Mars or somewhere.

If Trolling became a criminal offence where would you hide Jarrek ?:p
Dee Cee
 
That's mighty arrogant.

Rather than walking the crooked line and punishing maybe you should try to fix the problem.

You do the crime, you do the time. If you can't learn the first two times, well, then it is over for you.
 
Originally posted by Jerrek
You do the crime, you do the time.
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You said it yourself Jerrick, so why do you then immidiatly take the position that if you do the crime then you should do the time, pluss some arbitrairy and massive amount of time on top of that.
 
I think an ideal society is one in which we are ruled by a draconian code! That is, a system of law whereby the penalty for all criminal activity is death! The only thing that will keep people civil, spouting the party line, and hailing Hitler is if they fear the government’s army of angry men with guns who will have the authority to murder them in the street for any offense.

The idea that the punishment should fit the crime is absurd. It’s practically a license to allow criminals to break the law. Also, think of how quickly society would be straightened out. After all, criminals are inherently different from we normal folk. Everyone knows that for a normal person there are no circumstances which he may come into in which he will commit a crime. All those APA assholes who talk about the fundamental attribution error are themselves just closet criminals. With man’s infallible code of laws, and justice system we’ll be rid of all the criminals within one year, and then we will have achieved utopia. Children will respect their elders, there will be no more rap music, people won’t seek out illegal drugs (only the good ol’ fashion legal ones which certainly seemed good enough for our forefathers), people of color, and other minorities will finally either learn to stop actin’ all funny or be wiped out, and women’s place will be back in the home with the children! It’ll be a conservative paradise, and nothing will ever change. After all, any past is better to any future! So lets’ go for it, lets stop playing nice, like those liberal pussies, and human rights advocates want, and just kill all the criminals once and for all!
 
Originally posted by Mystech
I think an ideal society is one in which we are ruled by a draconian code! That is, a system of law whereby the penalty for all criminal activity is death! The only thing that will keep people civil, spouting the party line, and hailing Hitler is if they fear the government’s army of angry men with guns who will have the authority to murder them in the street for any offense.

The idea that the punishment should fit the crime is absurd. It’s practically a license to allow criminals to break the law. Also, think of how quickly society would be straightened out. After all, criminals are inherently different from we normal folk. Everyone knows that for a normal person there are no circumstances which he may come into in which he will commit a crime. All those APA assholes who talk about the fundamental attribution error are themselves just closet criminals. With man’s infallible code of laws, and justice system we’ll be rid of all the criminals within one year, and then we will have achieved utopia. Children will respect their elders, there will be no more rap music, people won’t seek out illegal drugs (only the good ol’ fashion legal ones which certainly seemed good enough for our forefathers), people of color, and other minorities will finally either learn to stop actin’ all funny or be wiped out, and women’s place will be back in the home with the children! It’ll be a conservative paradise, and nothing will ever change. After all, any past is better to any future! So lets’ go for it, lets stop playing nice, like those liberal pussies, and human rights advocates want, and just kill all the criminals once and for all!
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LOL :D

It could have been scary if it was not a joke... :rolleyes:
 
Personally I don't see any problem with the three strikes law. A twenty dollar theft seems pretty minor, but this person has been convicted of three seperate crimes. In the state of California, this person is recognised as one who has a habit of comitting crimes and is likely to continue breaking the law, therefore the state must incarcerate him as he constitutes a threat to society. This is what the people of the state have voted for and by continuing to live there all residents accept this as a consequence for their actions.

That being said, three crimes - say for example: shoplifting, public mischief, and theft of $20 - does not to me mean that this person is going to make society crumble. But each was an act the individual chose to do - while very much aware that three strikes could put him away for life. Sorry, but I can't bring myself to have much sympathy for someone when the alternative was to simply do nothing.

Rather than walking the crooked line and punishing maybe you should try to fix the problem.
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Personally I don't see this as an "either/or" issue. Crimes must be punished, otherwise we live in a society without justice. However, we have the ability to rehabilitate and reprogram and should exercise it so that three strike cases do not occur in the first place.
 
I also don't have a problem with it. We're talking about three separate felony convictions here. If you're too much of a criminal to stop after the first two felony convictions, well, maybe the world would be better off with you behind bars. If the prospect of life in prison doesn't deter you from committing crimes you are probably hopeless.
 
I think the rule should be variable, instead of a slapping on a life-sentance at three crimes, instead each subsequent crime after the first should have, say, a multiplier effect, the second being 1.5x sentence, third 2x, fourth 2.5x etc. Unfortunately, this will probably never occur because legislation that conforms to an individual rather than a segment of society, cannot be easily passed, it is too controversial, clearly evident by the fact that this thread exists.
 
The whole point of justice is weight. You weigh the crime with the time. Stealing $20, even after doing two other crimes, does not constitute life in prison-murder constitutes that other than the death penalty.

It's obvious this judge is not a judge whatsoever. Laws are set out as guidelines. The judge didn't have to be that severe, and really, if the crown had a problem with a lesser sentence, he could have appealed the decision.
 
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Only in a morally degenerate society as the US would someone get life imprisonment for such crimes as you have listed, and get manslaughter or 2nd degree murder charges for murder. You let mafia assassins go free-- give them jobs, houses, etc just so you can get the big 'bosses', who you slap petty charges on. Thus the killer gets off for free and the boss gets 15 years, only ten which he serves. You have a society that excels at keeping its poor poor and its undureducated, undereducated. Did you ever wonder why most of the petty criminals-- theft, bulglary, etc-- are from the economically and educationally underprivileged?

You have an absolutely insane judicial system where a murderer can bargain his way to a lesser sentence with the right lawyers and enough doubt from the prosecution. And yet you donot provide this for the person who commits three thefts in roll. Why?because they are of more harm to society than the murderer???And then these brain washed nincampoops who are always spewing ...arrgggggggggghkdshsadjroipyo[ypruthlkcl,ml,l,;l;l;loip;oifghftjhgjg Fuck!
 
I love the idea that if a law is voted in, and I don’t like it I can just move. I thought the US didn’t like people just moving because they wanted to live somewhere better.

Is the three strikes and your out, not actually punishing the person because the system failed to reintegrating the person into society? But what I felt was most worrying was the fact the judge felt he had no power to take the personal circumstances into consideration. And really, the guy thought he was robbing a junky ;)
 
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