Do an
outline for the below and include any note you feel are appropriate to help
improve the quality of the work. Thereafter, you can do the work in line with
the outline.
(History)
In those states with
the three strikes laws, any person who has 2 felony strikes and commits another
felony, whether it be violent or not, can be required to serve a sentence of 25
years to life.
Look at the case
of Ewing v. California:
Ewing v. California
The defendant had his
third strike when he committed grand theft at a golf course in Los Angeles
County. This was not a violent crime, but he was subject to the three strikes
laws. He appealed this case up to the United States Supreme Court—and lost.
The public has always
been worried about violent crime, but just how worried are citizens about
nonviolent crime? With mandatory sentencing, society will have many older
inmates within the prison system. In the criminal justice community, it is
known that inmates “age out of crime.” Can you imagine a 68-year-old man
climbing in a window or jumping an 8-foot fence? By keeping these older inmates
incarcerated, is this a disservice to society?
State prosecutors have
the discretion to lower the charge so that the third offense would not be
considered a third strike. If you are a policy maker in your state
legislature. You are concerned about the heavy tax burden on your constituents.
The cost of the actual running of the prison and costs of personnel will rise.
You are also up for
re-election, and the feedback that you have received from your constituents has
shown that they are dissatisfied with the law that now stands. They are afraid
of violent crimes, not just felonies, and are very aware that the last crime
committed by the perpetrator does not have to be a violent crime. They are also
worried about the use of their tax dollars to incarcerate nonviolent offenders.
Guidelines
Develop a policy regarding the
three strikes laws in the State of California. Address the following in
your policy:
What alternatives would be
placed in the law to give the state prosecutor more freedom to
manipulate the third strike?
Many prosecutors “load up”
charges against defendants to force a plea bargain. What can be done to
limit or prevent this practice?
Will your policy allow
multiple counts arising from the same incident to count as multiple
strikes? (For instance, a man arrested for aggravated robbery because of
the use of a weapon is charged with aggravated robbery and a felony gun
possession charge. Should that count as 1 strike or 2?)
If one of the alternatives
was supervised probation, how would you convince the public that it
would be more cost-effective for the person to be supervised than
incarcerated?
Show the public where you
would be saving money by not incarcerating the perpetrator.
If brought up in the
legislature to be an amendment to the law, could this be grandfathered
in to help older inmates?
Could this have a backlash
from the public, or would they approve? How? Why?
Once you are finished with the
policy, draft an executive summary of the policy to be used for political
decision making.
Use 6–10 scholarly resources to
support the provisions of your policy. Look at federal and state legislation and
court cases.
Be sure to reference all
sources using APA style.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|