Is there a crime prevention program in the policing or corrections areas that would complement the initiative addressed by your classmates?
What concept or theory would support your position?
Will the initiative positively or negatively impact social justice for all groups or just targeted segments of society?
First Post-
Court Initiatives
The activity I will be addressing for my initial post is the Three-Strikes Laws. The Three-Strikes Laws are most notably used in California and is an example of a mandatory sentence. "Finally, mandatory sentences specify a sentence that must be served upon conviction" (Robinson, 2013). We often see or hear that someone was convicted of "fill in the blank" offense, but that because of a plea bargain or some other arrangement between the respective counsels' that the sentence was lessened or may not be immediate. With the Three-Strike rules though, the sentence is mandatory and thus ties the hands of the Judge and prevents the shady attorney tactics that in other cases could get a proven criminal reduced sentencing. The premise behind the Three-Strike Laws is to target repeat offenders of violent crimes. This is good and bad. I believe it is good because it can do just that, lock away a violent criminal for good. However, once that happens what is the incentive for that offender to be a model inmate. If there is never a chance for them to breathe free air again they can become a cancer inside the prison walls. Creating riots, forming cliques, and being generally uncooperative. This becomes the bad. We tend to believe in rehabilitation and a Three-Strike inmate cannot be rehabilitated. On the flip side of that coin, some people are beyond rehabilitation. Probably my favorite TV show of all-time is The Shield and coincidentally it was about a police precinct based in California. The cops in the series used some, we'll just say questionable tactics and in one of the episodes I remember one of the characters framing a two-time offender and calling him a three-time loser in the process. Basically, they guy was trying to avoid that third offense and the cops in the show used that fear to get him to cooperate with them, so he wouldn't get framed for that third offense. At its core I think it's a good law though, because it's not like they didn't know after their second violent crime that number three would land them in prison for the foreseeable future.
Second Post:
Three Strikes
The Three Strike laws were established in the 1990's. These were laws that were established because of citizens and lawmakers that were extremely tired of the repeat offender. The goal of the three strike law is to warn the criminal of what will happen if he or she decides to continue in committing the same type of violent crimes. The goal is the lock up these violent offenders for life. This way society will not have to fear their repeat offending, and the judicial system will not have to waste time and money when it comes to prosecution. These laws have not been widely used throughout the United States. However, they have been utilized widely by the state of California.
The wedding cake model is used in deciding the degree of punishment:
1) Level One: Celebrated cases
2) Level Two: Serious felonies
3) Level Three: Less serious felonies
4) Misdemeanors
The top layer of the cake is the smallest layer and it is the least common type of crime/criminal. It can be the celebrities, and it can be those that commit heinous crimes, like the O.J. Simpson trial.
The second layer of the cake is for the felonies that are very serious like murder, rape, robbery, and burglary. These offenders are considered to be notorious.
The third layer of the cake are crimes that are committed against property such as theft.
The fourth layer of the cake are minor cases that are usually committed against the public.
The top two cases seem to be cases committed by people with longer criminal records. And, these cases usually draw attention from society and the media often becoming high profile. The other layers to tend to be crimes of lesser degrees and often times are resolves by the offender taking a plea bargain.
The courts must be very careful when implementing the strike three laws. It is very important to get the count right and to apply the right type of judgment. It was argued in a Wisconsin court that the judgment should have been dismissed because it was thought that the court erroneously impose a life sentence without the possibility of parole. This was done on a two strike that were enhanced.
When enhancing a two strike without allowing the offender the opportunity not to commit the third strike is to take away the rights of the offender. If a criminal already has five strikes and is sentenced up under the strike three laws then ample amount of changes have been provided.