California’s Three Strikes Law has flooded state prisons but has little effect on curbing violent crime, according to a professor who researched the impact reports.
“California has over 7,000 more third-strike prisoners than any other state. California’s Three Strikes Law is in a league of its own,” said Elsa Y. Chen, assistant professor of political science at Santa Clara University. She was guest lecturer recently for a classroom of over 50 San Quentin prisoners sharing her research about the Three Strikes Law.
Washington State is ranked second in the nation with about 350 third-strike inmates.
Chen’s study covered from 1986 through 2005 to explain the circumstances that framed passage of the Three Strikes Law by Californians. She said the study concluded “California’s Three Strikes Law failed to produce a significant incapacitation effect on crime compared to 24 other states with a similar law but narrowly constructed to target recidivists who commit a third violent crime.”
She said she was troubled by the disparity in the application of law from county to county in California. She found that age, race, ethnicity, and even political affiliation played a significant role in whether an individual was subjected to the extreme penalties imposed under the Three Strikes Law. “Elected [officials] make policy about strikes, changing…from county to county. They are not only allowed to make policy, but they do so publicly,” she said.
Chen’s research bolsters a general hypothesis that exposes the meager effect Three Strikes has had on crime in California. 87,500 individuals who have violated any of over 500 different felonies, whether violent or not, have been subjected to three strikes in California, according to Chen’s research, costing California taxpayers $500 million a year.
One of Chen’s positions is director of public sector studies at Santa Clara University. She commented, “I can assure you that working as a public intellectual I will be able to apply my research in the future.” But she added, “Currently research opinion [on sentencing reduction] is not highly sought by politicians.”
Chen expressed optimism that her research will have great value to a sentencing commission as she awaits the slow state legislative process of adopting a commission that may potentially bring fairness in sentencing.
Chen’s study is titled “Impact of ‘Three Strikes and You’re Out’ on Crime Trends in California and Throughout the United States.” It can be found in the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Volume 24, Number 4 and at http://ccj.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com or get a copy by asking Jennifer Scaife of Patten University at San Quentin.
