CALIFORNIA'S DILEMMA

Mandatory Sentences Creating Problems

California, with its three-strikes-you're-out law, spends more money on
prisons than any state. But a new study shows that law may be costing more
than it's worth.

The Sentencing Project, a not-for-profit group based in Washington, studied
the 50,000 prisoners convicted under the 7-year-old law and found no link
to the state's precipitous drop in crime over the same period. California
is spending more money to house an aging prison population that is moving
beyond crime-production age.

Backers of the three-strikes-you're-out law argue that the study is flawed
and that the legislation has done much to reduce crime by removing habitual
offenders. But Californians are being victimized in another way. Exorbitant
prison spending means other programs such as education are going to get
fewer dollars unless, of course, Californians are willing to pass a tax hike.

Oklahomans know all about feeding the monster. In the past four years
prison spending here increased by almost $200 million. Yet we continue to
have one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation, and juries
increasingly are sending defendants to prison for longer terms.

The Sentencing Project compared the crime rate in California with the rates
in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., jurisdictions
where crime has fallen markedly with no "three strikes" laws. The study
concludes that crime declined in the 1990s for several reasons, including a
good economy, a drop in gang activity and use of community policing.

Last legislative session Oklahoma lawmakers took a step in the right
direction when they passed reform legislation aimed at spending prison
dollars more wisely and offering more alternatives to prison as punishment.
Lawmakers are starting to get the message that by simply locking criminals
up and throwing away the key, taxpayers are getting punished along with the
criminals.