three-strikes

"Three strikes": "The increased use of so-called 'three-strikes' legal measures to combat Internet piracy is worrisome given the growing importance of the Internet in daily life… This disproportionate response is most likely to be incompatible with OSCE commitment on the 'freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.'"

Ars Technica Nate Anderson 2011

He sought review in the California Supreme Court, but it denied review, as it has done in every case where an individual has argued that his or her life sentence under the three-strikes law is cruel and unusual punishment.

The Conservative Assault on the Constitution Erwin Chemerinsky 2010

I remember my elation the day the decision came down and knew that it gave tremendous hope to the families of the many people serving life sentences for minor crimes under the three-strikes law.

The Conservative Assault on the Constitution Erwin Chemerinsky 2010

Analysts at RAND compared crime rates between “three strikes” states and “non-three strikes” states and found that three-strikes laws had no independent effect on the crime rate in states with such statutes.

The Conservative Assault on the Constitution Erwin Chemerinsky 2010

Studies show that African-Americans and Latinos are more likely to be charged under the three-strikes law, even when whites have committed the same offense and have the same prior criminal history.

The Conservative Assault on the Constitution Erwin Chemerinsky 2010

The three-strikes law in California requires that the first two felonies be serious or violent felonies, but the third strike can be any felony; it need not be a serious or violent one.

The Conservative Assault on the Constitution Erwin Chemerinsky 2010

Because Andrade was convicted of two counts of petty theft with a prior, he was sentenced under the California three-strikes law to two sentences of twenty-five years to life to run consecutively.

The Conservative Assault on the Constitution Erwin Chemerinsky 2010

The question might be asked, though, whether the three-strikes law is justified to decrease crime.

The Conservative Assault on the Constitution Erwin Chemerinsky 2010

About half the states in the country have three-strikes laws, but California is alone in not requiring that the third strike be a serious or violent crime.

The Conservative Assault on the Constitution Erwin Chemerinsky 2010

The most extensive study of the effects of the three-strikes law, by three prominent professors, also concluded that the “decline in crime observed after the effective date of the Three Strikes law was not the result of the statute.”

The Conservative Assault on the Constitution Erwin Chemerinsky 2010