Dear Editor,
I am writing to get you up to date on the Fix Three Strikes
”
Yes on 66
”
campaign.
Dear Editor,
I am writing to get you up to date on the Fix Three Strikes “Yes on 66” campaign.
Prop. 66, appearing on California’s November ballot, would strengthen California’s Three Strikes sentencing law by keeping rapists, murderers and child molesters in jail but ensure that it applies only to violent or genuinely serious third-time offenders.
Ten years ago, voters approved tougher sentences for repeat violent criminals, but we weren’t told that Three Strikes would also lock up non-violent, petty offenders for life. Imprisoning non-violent, petty offenders under Three Strikes has cost taxpayers $6 billion over the last decade.
According to the California Department of Corrections, 65 percent of those serving second and third strike sentences were convicted of non-violent, petty offenses such as writing a bad check, shoplifting or stealing a slice of pizza.
Californians intended the Three Strikes law to target murderers, rapists and kidnappers, not pizza thieves and bad check writers. California is the only Three Strikes state with that doesn’t require a third felony conviction to be violent or serious to trigger the harshest sentence.
Nearly two-thirds of the 42,000 repeat offenders who have been sent to prison under California’s Three Strikes sentencing law were convicted because of drug and property offenses and other non-violent crimes.
State records show that the law has resulted in life sentences for people who stole aspirin, spare tires, razor blades and bicycles. Prop. 66 will restore the Three Strikes law to what voters intended and the Three Strikes backers promised.
Several recent public opinion polls have documented strong support for fixing California’s three-strikes law as proposed by Prop. 66. The respected Field Poll found 76 percent support for Prop. 66 based on a reading of a summary of the official title and summary to 300 voters in June 2004.
Fix Three Strikes, Yes on 66 – http://www.yes66.org/
Steve Hopcraft, Sacramento
