The Three Strikes Act is a habitual offender law that provides mandatory penalties for those convicted of their third crime. In 1993, Washington state passed the first three-strikes law in the United States, followed by California in 1994.1 That same year, Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the most sweeping crime bill in US history. This paved the way for 26 other states to follow in the footsteps of California and Washington – including Georgia. The law varies from state to state, and some differences include the severity of penalties for offenders, the specific crimes the laws cover, and whether it applies to felonies or misdemeanors.2
The purpose of the Three Strikes Act seems to be quite simple – to keep the most violent criminals behind bars. The Three Strikes Act did not serve this purpose. In the United States, more than half of inmates serving a sentence under the Three Strikes Act have been convicted of nonviolent crimes.3
In Georgia, the three strikes legislation under OCGA17-10-7 consists of two parts. The first part states that those accused of a previous offense shall be sentenced to the longest sentence prescribed for a subsequent offence. Under this law, judges have the discretion to stay or uphold the verdict. However, crimes with mandatory life sentences cannot be suspended or suspended.
The second part of the law states that after three felonies, a defendant should serve the maximum sentence prescribed by their fourth felony. Probation and parole are not available to these defendants because they are required by law to serve each day of their sentence.4 Georgia is among a handful of states that continue to require repeat offenders to serve their full sentences.5
One of the first states to enact a three-strikes law, California was once known as the state with the harshest version of a three-strikes law, splitting life sentences for defendants on their third felony conviction. For many years, 90 percent of all triple penalties in California were handed out.6 Today, states like Texas and Georgia are considered the toughest when it comes to handing out triple penalties.7
Mania surrounding the kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old California girl by a man on parole, as well as the growing anti-crime movement of the 1990s, are what many attribute to California’s strict laws. In 2012, California citizens voted to amend the Three Strikes Act under Proposition 36, which commuted or reduced the sentences of over 1,000 inmates serving life sentences under the Three Strikes Act and reduced its application to felonies, considered violent or serious.8 While this reform was significant, it failed to address the heart of the problem with the Three Strikes Act: it was not supposed to exist.
Proponents of the Three Strikes Act cite data showing that a Three Strikes Act reduces crime rates in an area. California’s violent crime rate fell 26.9 percent after the Three Strikes Act was passed. However, similar trends were observed throughout the United States during the same period, even in states that did not pass three strikes legislation, showing that the three strikes law is not an effective deterrent to crime. A study analyzing the impact of the Three Strikes Act in California ten years after its passage showed that the Three Strikes Act resulted in declining crime prevention revenues at best at least two years prior to the Three Strikes Act’s passage .
In addition, the Three Strike Act disproportionately affects historically marginalized populations such as people of color and those with mental illnesses.10 The Three Strike Act has only exacerbated the long-standing problem of racial disparity in the criminal justice system, affecting larger black and black populations Hispanic Americans incarcerated following the passage of these laws is only increasing. In the United States, blacks make up 78.5% of Americans serving life sentences.11 Most data shows that the Three Strike Act is largely ineffective in preventing recidivism and deterring crime. In fact, the only thing these laws seem to easily accomplish is jailing and holding people. The Three Strikes Act treats inmates unfairly and only seeks to punish them rather than provide avenues for reform. Getting rid of the Three Strikes Act and other similar laws in the United States would be a much-needed first step in widespread prison reform across the country.
- https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/detail/three-strikes-youre-out-a-review
- https://www.taylor-taylor-law.com/taylor-taylor-legal-blog/2014/january/the-history-and-future-of-the-three-strikes-laws/#:~:text= The%20Original%20%22Three%20Strikes%20and,%2Dyear%2Dold%20California%20girl.
- https://law.stanford.edu/three-strikes-project/three-strikes-basics/
- https://www.peachstatelawyer.com/recidivist-statute-and-three-strikes-rule-in-georgia-criminal-law/
- https://www.georgiapolicy.org/issue/georgias-criminal-justice-system-at-a-crossroads-tough-laws-smart-decisions/
- www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/human_rights_vol29_2002/spring2002/hr_spring02_vitiello/.
- https://sites.suffolk.edu/lawreview/2012/11/13/heyer-strikes/
- https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/ThreeStrikesReport_v6-1.pdf#:~:text=Proposition%2036%20established%20a%20proceedings, court%20 for%20a%20reduced%20sentence
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235204000388?via%3Dihub
- https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/opinion/sunday/california-horror-stories-and-the-3-strikes-law.html
- https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Still-Life.pdf
