My Concern Over the Three Strikes Sentencing Policies

My concern over the criminal justice system is focused on the Three Strikes sentencing policy. This policy came up in March 1994 as a measure to control the level of crime in the community. This policy states that the fierce or regular lawbreakers should both face life imprisonment without conditional release (Boushey 2016). However, the legislation grants setbacks and obstacles towards this policy. For instance, this policy is built upon delusions that fierce criminals have a tendency to commit multiple crimes; significant justice is limited or denied to the culprits. In this paper, I will discuss my concerns over the Three States Sentencing policy, how I would change it, and name my career objectives.

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My Concerns Over the Three Strikes Policy

My concern on this subject as well is on the misuse of public funds in the form of tax being used to cater for sentences that are uneven being based on the culprits' former conviction of drugs or violence. This policy by the legislature is aimed at reducing crime levels. However, it trespasses the fundamental and constitutional freedom to fare judgment as it makes rulings based on culprits' former law infractions instead of using the right procedures that involve legal processes affirmed by the law towards proving guilt and crime by the victim.

According to my opinions, the Three Strikes Law may not be sufficient enough to prevent criminals from committing crimes. This is major because most crimes are not intentional. They are only engaged in situations such as anger or deferred judgment and hot passion under the influence of alcohol. Therefore, with this type of understanding, the prospect of life imprisonment cannot stop people from impulse reactions, primarily criminal actions.

The Three Strikes Law could also lead to increased violence instead of reducing. Out of the fear of life imprisonment, a culprit may tend to resist authority, discard evidence up to the extent of killing the witness. Furthermore, the Three Strikes policy may malfunction in terms of clogging to the law courts (Gorelkina, Grypari & Hengel 2019). The average rates of arrest as a result of crimes are already high, placing huge workloads on the judges and prosecutors, among others. The Three Strikes Law will only worsen the already existing clogging. The repeated lawbreakers will demand for trials that consume time and resources considering the fact of life imprisonment tracking their way to taxpayers' money.

The Three Strikes Law will take all the sentencing discretion away from judges. The massive difference between this ruling and other criminal laws is that The Three Sentencing law makes life sentences without parole mandatory. This undermines the authority of traditional judges who weighed the case before proceeding to rulings. Therefore, the fact that judicial discretion is compromised makes the Three Strikes sequences inadequate. Discarding parole also disregards the possibility of transformation by lawbreakers while in prison.

The principle of proportionality under the Eighth Amendment of the Bill of Rights states that "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Therefore to attain criminal justice, punishment must fit the type of crime committed (Pickett, Mancini, Mears & Gertz 2015). Most of the proposals in the Three Strikes sequencing differ completely with this proposal.

How I Plan on Changing the Concern

If I were to change the Three Strikes Policy, I would adjust the proposals to make the policy more just and to comply with the recommendation about proportionality found in the Eighth Amendment in the Bill of Rights. The punishment should be given according to the weight of the crime, and no rulings should be made out of a culprit's history.

My career goal as a Law student is that in the next 5years, I would love to have completed my studies and acquired a job at the Baker and McKenzie law firm. The aspect of law and learning new things in that dimension is what gives me the motivation to push on. I will extend my studies further as being a judge has always been in my dreams. Then in the next 15 years, I will acquire a chance to work at the Supreme Court. My plan on achieving these career goals is to keep reading law books and listen to podcasts and watching actual court proceedings to expound on theoretical knowledge.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I have discussed my concern over The Three Strikes Policy on criminals. This policy requires that lawbreakers be imprisoned for a life's sentence according to the history of their crimes in combination with their current crimes without parole (Welsh & Harris 2016). My concern over this policy is that it trespasses the freedom of individuals to fair judgments. The system also misuses public funds in sustaining many culprits with minor crimes. This policy also might increase violence as a result of victims avoiding the life sentence. The Three Strikes Policy may also not work to stop crime since a higher percentage of sin is a result of impulse reaction, which is mostly not premeditated. For the policy to be effective, I would suggest the removal of the life sentence imprisonment and replacement with matching punishments for each particular crime.

References

Boushey, G. (2016). Targeted for diffusion? How the use and acceptance of stereotypes shape the distribution of criminal justice policy innovations in the American states. American Political Science Review, 110(1), 198-214.

Gorelkina, O., Grypari, I., & Hengel, E. (2019). One strike and you're out! The Master Lever's effect on senatorial policy-making.

Pickett, J. T., Mancini, C., Mears, D. P., & Gertz, M. (2015). Public (mis) understanding of crime policy: The effects of criminal justice experience and media reliance. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 26(5), 500-522.

Welsh, W. N., & Harris, P. W. (2016). Criminal justice policy and planning: Planned change. Routledge.