COST OF 'THREE STRIKES' LAW

IT HAS been 10 years since California voters approved the "three
strikes" law in an effort to get tough on crime, propelled in part by
the kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma by
parolee Richard Allen Davis.

The law was supposed to sweep career criminals off the street by
mandating sentences of 25 years to life, without possibility of
parole, for anyone with two "strikes" -- serious or violent felony
convictions -- convicted of any new felony.

But studies by criminal-justice experts show the law to be unduly
costly, overly punitive, racially discriminatory -- and failing its
primary mission to curb crime.

With 57 percent of the third strikes being nonviolent offenses,
typically drug violations or burglary, the law largely hasn't
necessarily targeted the most dangerous criminals. Third strikes are
10 times more likely to be for a drug offense than for second-degree
murder. In fact, third-strikers sent to prison on a drug offense
outnumber the combined total whose offense was assault, rape and
second-degree murder, according to the Justice Policy Institute, a
research and public policy group that has been critical of the law.

The institute's 10-year analysis of the law also found African
Americans and Latinos were far more likely to be imprisoned than white
offenders for the same third-strike crimes.

Since 1994, the number of inmates in the state prison system grew by
22.6 percent. One in four prisoners -- 42,000 inmates -- are serving
life terms under the three-strikes law. About $8.1 billion was spent
to house these third-strikers -- $4.7 billion for convicts whose
third strike was not a violent crime.

"We're filling our prisons with people who don't belong there," said
Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, whose reform attempts
have been routinely rebuffed. "You can get less time for second-degree
murder than for stealing a six-pack of beer. It's not what the public
had in mind."

Only the voters can repeal the three-strikes law. But the California
Legislature, which has the authority to make changes consistent with
its intent, should have the courage to at least require that the
third strike be a violent crime.