A coalition led by a group of Stanford University attorneys wants to put an initiative on the November 2012 ballot to reform California’s Three Strikes Law.
The group has the support of David W. Mills, a former investment banker and Stanford Law School professor. San Francisco-based political consultant Averell Smith will assist in campaigning for public support for the measure.
The group is courting key Republicans such as Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley.
Many Californians who supported the Three Strikes Law thought they were sending serious and violent child molesters, rapists, and murderers to prison for life. However, the toughest recidivist law in the country also included non-violent petty criminals, drug addicts, and mentally unsound people.
The state auditor has concluded that incarceration costs of those now in prison under Three Strikes will total $19.2 billion. Second-strikers account for 79 percent, or about 32,400 of the 41,100 people in prison because of the law.
The Advocate newsletter said that a symposium on Three Strikes concluded the chances are poor for change through the Legislature, so reform must come by ballot initiative.
The symposium entitled, “The Future of California’s Three Strike Law: Reform, Repeal or the Status Quo?” was a two-day event that included the history of the law, its impact on prison overcrowding, what the data shows about its effect on public safety, and even why the law should be retained.
Speakers responded to public criticism about the law’s economic impact, its intended purpose, and its actual impact on California. Speakers included George Gascon, San Francisco district attorney; Steve Cooley, Los Angeles district attorney; Erwin Chemerinsky, the attorney who argued the unconstitutionality of Three Strikes before the U.S. Supreme Court, Jeanne Woodford, former San Quentin warden and former chief of California prisons, and Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Since the law’s passage, Families to Amend California’s Three-Strikes (FACTS) has been trying to change it so that it only applies to violent felons. FACTS reports that nearly 75 percent of second-strikers and half of third-strikers are for non-violent offenses. FACTS specifically campaigns for the following changes in Three Strikes:
1. The law should not apply to crimes committed before its enactment in 1994.
2. The law should not count multiple counts during a single act as multiple strikes.
3. The law should include a “wash-out” period such that convictions older than 10 years do not count as strikes.
4. Burglary of unoccupied dwellings should not count as “serious or violent” strikes.
5. The law should not apply to offenses committed by juveniles.
