Did you hear about the guy that got sentenced to life for
stealing socks? If you didn’t then you might not be aware of the three strikes
law in our country. It is the driving force behind our burgeoning prison system
and why we waste tax dollars on non-violent criminals that could otherwise shed
their stigma and contribute to society.
photo from Charlotte Criminal Lawyer
A few days ago Douglas Walker the man who inspired the three strikes law was released in Fresno, California.
Walker was involved in a fatal shooting of a woman whose
father went on to lead the three strikes campaign. As a result any criminal receiving a
third conviction automatically gets sentenced 25 years to life in prison
without parole. Regardless of the crime and whether or not it is violent. Even
if the crime is as silly as stealing socks the convict could be
looking at life and us taxpayers will be footing the bill.
The United States leads all other countries for sentencing
criminals to life in prison without option for parole. According to ACLU
reports, if we changed state and federal sentencing statutes to eliminate the
three strikes policy sentencing non-violent offenders to life without parole
tax-payers would have fiscal savings of $1.78 billion dollars.
Judges, Senate members and prison wardens all agree that the
punishment of life without parole is cruel and frequently does not fit the
crime. Burl Cain, Warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola said, “
There’s an answer to this without being so extreme. But we’re still living 20
years ago extreme. Throw the human away. He’s useless. Boom: up the river. And
yet he didn’t even kill anybody. He didn’t do anything, but he just had an
addiction he couldn’t control and he was trying to support it by robbing.
That’s terrible to rob people-I’ve been robbed, I hate it. I want something
done to him. But not all his life. That’s extreme. That’s cruel and unusual
punishment to me.”
For all our failing efforts in the “war on drugs” and getting
tough on crime we have further failed our original purpose to deter and
rehabilitate criminals. We have two choices. We lock people up and forget about
them or help them find purpose to become functioning and contributing members
of society. Most parents would not banish children to their bedrooms for the
rest of their lives because it would be an unusual problem solving approach not
to mention cruel and without purpose. So is forcing someone to experience life
looking through steel bars until their death.
Story on Douglas Walker:
ACLU Report on Life Without Parole for Non-Violent Offenses
https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/111213a-lwop-complete-report.pdf
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