Ballot Initiative to Modify Three-Strikes Advances

 The California state Assembly yesterday passed AB 327, which would give voters the opportunity to modify the state's three-strikes law. The bill now goes to the state Senate. Approval of the measure there would place the initiative on the November ballot.

AB 327 seeks to change the law to require that a third strike be categorized as violent or serious to result in a 25-year to life sentence. Non-violent or non-serious third felonies would instead result in a doubling of the applicable sentence.

The bill does come with restrictions, however.https://askcompetentlawyer.com/ For example, the 25-year to life penalty would still be imposed for a non-violent, non-serious third strike if either of the previous strikes were for murder, rape, or child molestation.

AB 327 comes as part of a movement to assess the impact of three-strikes laws. The Legislative Analyst's Office reported in 2005, after 10 years of three-strikes enforcement, that there was considerable variation across the state regarding application of three-strikes penalties. Prosecutors in different counties have different policies about seeking sentence enhancements. Judges employ different standards is using their discretion to dismiss prior strikes. And policies within counties change as different district attorneys come into office.

In addition, it's not clear what impact three-strikes laws have had on crime rates. A Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice report showed that the California counties with the highest rate of imprisonment using three-strikes laws (including Sacramento county) actually saw reductions in crime rates that were SMALLER than the reductions seen in the counties that employed three-strikes most sparingly.