Understanding the Impact of the Three Strikes Laws to Offenders and to Essay

Understanding the Impact of the Three Strikes Laws to Offenders and to Law Enforcement - Essay Example Since the court can impose a very high penalty when the offender is convicted for the third time, most offenders would be more careful not commit another offense, especially after the second strike. Over the years, different states across the country have adopted the three strike laws. At present, the following states implement this law Washington, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, North Dakota, Arkansas, Georgia, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia (White, 2006). The effects of the three strikes laws and their implementation vary from state to state. Some states require that all three crimes committed should be violent crimes while others apply the three strike laws if the two previous crimes committed by the person is either serious or violent or both (White, 2006). For instance, in the state of California, if a person has been convicted three times, that person may be given the mandatory 25-to-life sentence (Zimring, et. al., 2001). The harsh punishments given to habitual criminals helped cut the crime rates especially in the state of Califo rnia (Reynolds, 2004). Although the enactment of the three strikes laws provides strong deterrent to committing crimes, these laws also have weaknesses and these weaknesses often create problems in the implementation of the laws. According to critics, a large number of repeat offenders actually slip from the law without being charged so they may not be subjected to the three strikes law (White, 2006). Critics of these laws believe that the application of one-size-fits-all sentence to repeat offenders is unfair and unreasonably harsh (Reynolds, 2004).