Latest on the three strikes law?

[jayjay2]

Does anybody know the latest going on with the 3 strikes law?

[Gryphon]

Originally Posted by jayjay2

Does anybody know the latest going on with the 3 strikes law?

Yes. What would you like to know?

[Joy Juego]

Originally Posted by Gryphon

Yes. What would you like to know?

everything that has recently come out Gryphon

[jayjay2]

Originally Posted by Gryphon

Yes. What would you like to know?

Has there been any restructuring to the 3 strikes law or proposed changes and what are the proposed changes ? I did read Freedom Angels post and looked into the FACTS1 website, but I see no recent information that details the proposed changes.

[Gryphon]

I've heard of no serious suggestions by the State Legislature that 3 strikes needs revision.
The proposed legislation changes by lobbying groups seem designed to happen after the Governator leaves office. Makes sense, since he almost single handedly shot down the last Voter's Proposition that would have changed 3 Strikes.
Very little help regarding 3 Strikes in the courts. There was a crack of daylight when there was a finding of Cruel Punishment when a life term was overturned on a failure to register case; but then that case has turned out to be very narrowly held.
There continue to be many Due Process and Equal Protection challenges, but no ideas in a long time and no good defense law. The motions keep getting filed, I suppose in the hope that someday a Judge might unexpectedly say yes.

So, I'd say that if change is going to happen, it'll happen in around 2012. The economic problems that the State and CDCR are having might help give it some momentum. I think there is very little chance that a violent crime's 3rd strike is going to see any change, but that there's a good chance of at least a life term not being applied towards a non-violent crime. Any reformer will have to make a political decision about how much to try to change. Changing less increases the chance of passing, asking for too little means that it could be years before there'll be an attempt to do more.

Originally Posted by jayjay2

Has there been any restructuring to the 3 strikes law or proposed changes and what are the proposed changes ? I did read Freedom Angels post and looked into the FACTS1 website, but I see no recent information that details the proposed changes.

[freedom anjel]

FACTS is working, along with a coalition of many others, to introduce an amendment to the law in 2012. No firm language yet. Working on getting all the partners together, building the coalition, and bringing all into agreement, as well as working on fundraising ideas. We'll need a lot of money to win a campaign, but we think the time is right, the economic meltdown will help and depending on who ends up in the Gov's office, the Attorney General's office, etc., we will win some change this time around!!

[kima]

What (if anything) is happening with the 2nd strikers doing 80% of a doubled and enhanced non-violent sentence???? Apparently they don't even qualify to earn extra time credits (up to 6 weeks/year for program completions) under the new SB 18 X3 plan... Is there ANYTHING in the works for these 20,000+ prisoners??? I want my baby home NOW!!!

[freedom anjel]

Gryphon's got it exactly right. We'll be polling again to see what will fly with the voters. The goal for now is to get it amended so that the third strike must be a violent or serious strike. May try to get some relief on burglary of unoccupied dwellings as a serious. Will be looking at the list of serious and trying to make some modifications. There will also more than likely be some stipulations such as: second strike cannot be murder, rape, child molestation or significant amount of drugs (i.e. maybe a couple of kilo's). But nothing has been decided yet and it won't be until we get the polling done. Will be raising money soon to fund the poll, but we can't do that on PTO, so if you are at all interested in Three Strikes Reform, go to the website and at least sign up for email updates. You'll get emails when things start moving. We'll need everyone to contribute. As for the Gov, yes, 2012 is for a couple of reasons. First Arnie will be out. Second, 2010 will be the race for the Gov office and if legislation was introduced, anyone running for the office would come out strong against it, as part of their political platform. So, we wait and see who gets into the Gov office and who gets the Attorney General spot. Don't think there is much we can do for the 1st or 2nd strikers, but once we get some 3rd striker relief, I'm sure we'll be revisiting it. Our work will never be done until we turn this state around, change laws so that we aren't incarcerating everyone for minor offenses and putting our tax dollars into early intervention, drug rehab, etc. We've got a long road to hoe.....

[capone's_wife]

what website?

Originally Posted by freedom anjel

Gryphon's got it exactly right. We'll be polling again to see what will fly with the voters. The goal for now is to get it amended so that the third strike must be a violent or serious strike. May try to get some relief on burglary of unoccupied dwellings as a serious. Will be looking at the list of serious and trying to make some modifications. There will also more than likely be some stipulations such as: second strike cannot be murder, rape, child molestation or significant amount of drugs (i.e. maybe a couple of kilo's). But nothing has been decided yet and it won't be until we get the polling done. Will be raising money soon to fund the poll, but we can't do that on PTO, so if you are at all interested in Three Strikes Reform, go to the website and at least sign up for email updates. You'll get emails when things start moving. We'll need everyone to contribute. As for the Gov, yes, 2012 is for a couple of reasons. First Arnie will be out. Second, 2010 will be the race for the Gov office and if legislation was introduced, anyone running for the office would come out strong against it, as part of their political platform. So, we wait and see who gets into the Gov office and who gets the Attorney General spot. Don't think there is much we can do for the 1st or 2nd strikers, but once we get some 3rd striker relief, I'm sure we'll be revisiting it. Our work will never be done until we turn this state around, change laws so that we aren't incarcerating everyone for minor offenses and putting our tax dollars into early intervention, drug rehab, etc. We've got a long road to hoe.....

[freedom anjel]

Stanford Law Clinic is working some cases and has won a few, but they are only working on third strike cases and only about 5 at a time. While there are no serious suggestions by legislators out in the public view, we've been working & talking with several behind the scenes. Many have agreed for the last several years that it needs changing, but it would have been political suicide to come out for change with Arnie in office. We're looking to a couple who might be willing to carry a bill, but nothing confirmed yet and it will be a while before that happens. I send out emails from the various groups that I'm on, which include all kinds of info, articles, etc. as well as three strikes info. If you are interested in being on my email list, please forward your name and email to me at (please PM member with contact info )and I will add you. If it's too much for you, then just ask me to take your name off, or hit the delete button. You won't hurt my feelings. I just try to sort through all the data that comes through my email and forward what I feel is pertinent to change, or good human interest stories (prison related of course).

God bless.......

[DodieHultz]

Originally Posted by freedom anjel

Stanford Law Clinic is working some cases and has won a few, but they are only working on third strike cases and only about 5 at a time. While there are no serious suggestions by legislators out in the public view, we've been working & talking with several behind the scenes. Many have agreed for the last several years that it needs changing, but it would have been political suicide to come out for change with Arnie in office. We're looking to a couple who might be willing to carry a bill, but nothing confirmed yet and it will be a while before that happens. I send out emails from the various groups that I'm on, which include all kinds of info, articles, etc. as well as three strikes info. If you are interested in being on my email list, please forward your name and email to me at (please PM member with contact info )and I will add you. If it's too much for you, then just ask me to take your name off, or hit the delete button. You won't hurt my feelings. I just try to sort through all the data that comes through my email and forward what I feel is pertinent to change, or good human interest stories (prison related of course).

God bless.......

Please add my name to your email list, Dodie _hultz@yahoo.com, Dodie Hultz

[capone's_wife]

Originally Posted by DodieHultz

Please add my name to your email list, Dodie _hultz@yahoo.com, Dodie Hultz

gloria_arteaga@live.com, Gloria Briceno

[kima]

Dang, freedom, nothing in the works for the non-violent 2nd strikers? By either having them serve their full sentence (but not a doubled one!), or by letting them earn 50% time credits on their doubled sentence, it could cut a lot of the overcrowding down. I'd be happy to do research (or whatever) on this, if Geri would consider addressing the 80%ers in what you all are working on.

If FACTS could get Petersilia, Jeanne Woodford, Craig Haney and even Steve Cooley behind this, it could really gain some momentum. I'd be curious to know what Petersilia would recommend for amending the 3 strikes legislation... She has said she only supports the 3 strike law if it is narrowly defined to only include very violent repeat offenders. I would also be happy to get in touch with her and see if she'd be interested in working with FACTS on this (or maybe she's already involved?)

Change is coming, the time is definitely ripe for it. Let's just all hope and pray that Whitman isn't our next governor! (I read yesterday that Tom Campbell is likely dropping out of the race. I think he would have been a good proponent for amending 3 strikes).

[Gryphon]

The political challenge is that there's some guy in CDCR who was doing residential burgs for the purpose of scouting rape victims. He subsequently got caught with a small quantity of drugs. He's as mad as a hatter and promises he'll sexually assault the next person he meets. His favorite things list include barbed wire and screams for mercy.
Reform for non-violent second strikers will set him (and plenty like him) free. Whoever signs on to reform has to agree to let him go., and takes responsibility (and I mean political responsibility) for doing so.
That's why the anti-reform backlash was so effective last time.

(By the way, the cure is to redefine "gravely disabled" as applied to civil comitments to a state hospital, and also do it in a way that eliminates the need for the B.S. sexually violent predator laws. The dang legislature keeps passing laws without running them by me first.)

Originally Posted by kima

Dang, freedom, nothing in the works for the non-violent 2nd strikers? By either having them serve their full sentence (but not a doubled one!), or by letting them earn 50% time credits on their doubled sentence, it could cut a lot of the overcrowding down. I'd be happy to do research (or whatever) on this, if Geri would consider addressing the 80%ers in what you all are working on.

If FACTS could get Petersilia, Jeanne Woodford, Craig Haney and even Steve Cooley behind this, it could really gain some momentum. I'd be curious to know what Petersilia would recommend for amending the 3 strikes legislation... She has said she only supports the 3 strike law if it is narrowly defined to only include very violent repeat offenders. I would also be happy to get in touch with her and see if she'd be interested in working with FACTS on this (or maybe she's already involved?)

Change is coming, the time is definitely ripe for it. Let's just all hope and pray that Whitman isn't our next governor! (I read yesterday that Tom Campbell is likely dropping out of the race. I think he would have been a good proponent for amending 3 strikes).

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by Gryphon

The political challenge is that there's some guy in CDCR who was doing residential burgs for the purpose of scouting rape victims. He subsequently got caught with a small quantity of drugs. He's as mad as a hatter and promises he'll sexually assault the next person he meets. His favorite things list include barbed wire and screams for mercy.
Reform for non-violent second strikers will set him (and plenty like him) free. Whoever signs on to reform has to agree to let him go., and takes responsibility (and I mean political responsibility) for doing so.
That's why the anti-reform backlash was so effective last time.

(By the way, the cure is to redefine "gravely disabled" as applied to civil comitments to a state hospital, and also do it in a way that eliminates the need for the B.S. sexually violent predator laws. The dang legislature keeps passing laws without running them by me first.)

creeps like the one you described are the problem, they are the 'Willie Horton's' that scare most legislators to death. But there are ways around it, i.e. relief from the penalties of a 'serious' prior after X number of years without any other convictions.. My son has a strike prior, a residential burg that he pled to when he was very young. Even though he had over a decade with not arrests, convictions, or police contact- his second conviction (possession of a controlled substance) resulted in a prison sentence largely because of the strike prior. And because of the strike he was not qualified for 1453 (drug treatment furlough) and now that he has paroled he can't qualify for summary parole. That's just plain dumb =(

[Gryphon]

Yes it is dumb when you look at the wasted life, but it is good politics.
Working hard to carve out the exceptions so sentences are shortened is a lot of work, it would probably place that person in a fairly high profile position beacause people would know they were crunching numbers to reduce prison sentence reductions in a safer way. One way to look at this is trying to help make punishments fit the crime while being mindful of the public pocketbook. The other way to look at it is helping criminals is being soft on crime. Politicians who are soft on crime don't get reelected. Therfore it is a better political move to have nothing to do with the issue. From the legislator's perspective, even if they win there aren't many votes that'd be gained.
That's why the best hope for three strikes reform is a voter's proposition. It is known that the present Governor could probably defeat a Proposition (again), so it has to wait at least until he's out. Then a decision will have to be made to attempt a broadly designed reform that is more likely to fail (given the Willie Horton arguments), or a narrowly drafted reform that has better chance to win (given the ability to control the Willie Horton arguments.)
It has always been a simple matter to increase penalties or create a new crime. It's easy to find support. Backing away from existing crimes and punishments is a much more difficult thing to get done.

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

creeps like the one you described are the problem, they are the 'Willie Horton's' that scare most legislators to death. But there are ways around it, i.e. relief from the penalties of a 'serious' prior after X number of years without any other convictions.. My son has a strike prior, a residential burg that he pled to when he was very young. Even though he had over a decade with not arrests, convictions, or police contact- his second conviction (possession of a controlled substance) resulted in a prison sentence largely because of the strike prior. And because of the strike he was not qualified for 1453 (drug treatment furlough) and now that he has paroled he can't qualify for summary parole. That's just plain dumb =(

[hkmp5]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

creeps like the one you described are the problem, they are the 'Willie Horton's' that scare most legislators to death. But there are ways around it, i.e. relief from the penalties of a 'serious' prior after X number of years without any other convictions.. My son has a strike prior, a residential burg that he pled to when he was very young. Even though he had over a decade with not arrests, convictions, or police contact- his second conviction (possession of a controlled substance) resulted in a prison sentence largely because of the strike prior. And because of the strike he was not qualified for 1453 (drug treatment furlough) and now that he has paroled he can't qualify for summary parole. That's just plain dumb =(

your sons situation sounds like what my son is facing now. I really want to ask you a question....

[freedom anjel]

Originally Posted by Gryphon

The dang legislature keeps passing laws without running them by me first.)

Love it!! Wish they would, then maybe we'd get some decent legislation! Lol!

[freedom anjel]

Again Gryphon, you are hitting all the nails right on the head!!

Kima, some of the folks you mention are included in our discussions and we're hoping they will sign on as part of the coalition when all is said and done. That's why we're bringing them into the process early on. We're getting good, positive feedback. Not sure I know who Petersillia is though...

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by freedom anjel

Again Gryphon, you are hitting all the nails right on the head!!

Kima, some of the folks you mention are included in our discussions and we're hoping they will sign on as part of the coalition when all is said and done. That's why we're bringing them into the process early on. We're getting good, positive feedback. Not sure I know who Petersillia is though...

Here is a link to Dr. Petersilia's biography with some of her articles listed below it:
http://socialecology.uci.edu/faculty/jrpeters

[MIKAER]

Striker-ers are the DA's bread and butter...

[MarkLovesMe]

This may sound silly, but not living in California I have only recently become familiar with the 'three strikes' issue.

My question is: Do all three strikes cases result in life sentences?

Thank you for any info you can provide.

[Gryphon]

A third strike means the defendant got a 25 to life sentence or longer. A judge doesn't have to impose all the strikes, though; and a DA can decide to not charge all strikes. That discretion means there is a very broad possible range of sentences.

Originally Posted by MarkLovesMe

This may sound silly, but not living in California I have only recently become familiar with the 'three strikes' issue.

My question is: Do all three strikes cases result in life sentences?

Thank you for any info you can provide.

[MarkLovesMe]

Originally Posted by Gryphon

A third strike means the defendant got a 25 to life sentence or longer. A judge doesn't have to impose all the strikes, though; and a DA can decide to not charge all strikes. That discretion means there is a very broad possible range of sentences.

Thank you for your reply. That makes sense why I haven't been able to find any specific info because it seems like a wide range of possibilities. Seems like that might be part of the intended 'scare tactic' the law seemed to intend to promote.

[lazyincali]

Rumor is that a change is coming in California's 3 strike law.

DOes anyone know any of the facts on this or is it just a rumor?