THREE-STRIKE LAW

The Effectiveness of Three Strike law

The Effectiveness of Three Strike law

Introduction

In United States of America, 26 states have been enforcing the three-strike laws since 1994. This law significantly increases the sentence period for the habitual criminals. It finally mandates a prison terms of twenty-five (25) years to life for the criminals who convicted of a third offense. The law only considers the number of times the person has offended without taking the nature of crime into account. It has been an argument since last few years, that whether three strike law is effective or not. In this paper, we will discuss the goals of sentencing, importance of constitutional rights in criminal sentencing, and how effective three strike law is in maintaining the overall law and order situation.

Discussion

General goals of sentencing

A criminal is fundamentally sentenced, to ensure that citizens remain save from the threat of becoming a victim of any criminal act, and the peace of place can be maintained. Also, behind sentencing there is a concept of changing the attitude of the criminal toward positive aspects. Generally, the goals of sentencing can be divided into the following 5 categories.

Incapacitation refers to take away the offender from the capacity of committing crimes. This is usually done through detention in prison.

Deterrence refers to the punishment. The punishment must be so repulsive that the punished offender must prevent from doing it the next time. It also has impact on the general public.

Rehabilitation refers to the treatment of the offender. He must be directed toward changing his behavior and preventing future criminal acts.

Community Restraints refers to the supervision of offenders in the community. It results in reducing their capacity and opportunity for criminal activities.

Structure, Discipline and Challenge refers to programs that use physically or mentally stressful experiences. These programs are designed and executed to change the offenders in a positive way.

Constitutional Rights at Sentencing

Constitutional rights are the rights which are described in the Federal Constitution, and the constitution of the particular state where the person lives (Larson A., 2000). These rights provide an individual protection against improper police conduct, and wrongful conviction. Some of the constitutional rights at sentencing include right to counsel, privilege against self incrimination, and evidentiary reliability.

The citizens claim that, American courts often increase sentences for reasons that seem to conflict with constitutional protections (Hessick C.B and Hessick F.A, ...