'LEGACY' FAILS TO OFFER BALANCED VIEWPOINT OF 'THREE STRIKES' LAW

(Insert reads) "P.O.V.: The Legacy: Murder & Media; Politics & Prison"
10 p.m. tonight [locally] on Channel 9 (PBS)

It seemed so simple: Three strikes, you're out.

Violent criminals were being released to prey on an unsuspecting
public, we were told. Now, repeat offenders would get a mandatory
prison sentence of typically 25 years to life, Lock 'em up, save a life.

But with every snappy slogan, there are more complex issues. Issues
many of us don't want to think about.

This documentary traces the beginning of that initiative and how Polly
Klass became the poster child for a law that would place California at
the forefront of prison growth. It's a tale of two fathers, who,
reeling from their daughters' murders were propelled into the
political arena.

"The Legacy" kicks off the 11th season of "P.O.V.," which calls
itself, "Television with a Point of View." This documentary has an
extremely slanted point of view against this law. The truth is that
it very well be a bad law, but don't expect a balanced story that
shows both sides of the issue.

"The Legacy" reveals how Polly's father Mark first supported, then
oppose, the "Three Strikes" initiative spear-headed by another father
of a murdered daughter.

In 1994, after his 17-yea-old daughter Kimber was shot in the face by
a paroled felon when she refused to give up her purse, Fresno father
Mike Reynolds channeled his grief into a crusade to reform the justice
system. But his initiative gained little ground. Legislators snubbed
him and his signature drive to qualify "Three Strikes" as a voter initiative.

Later that year, Petaluma's Polly Klaas was kidnapped and murdered,
and felon Richard Allen Davis faced charges.

Suddenly, voters were galvanized and their anger fueled the fight for
mandatory sentencing. With 1994 being an election year, politicians
jumped on the bandwagon.

But Klaas started to have misgivings about the proposed law, mostly
because of concerns about whom the initiative was aimed at. He -- and
the public -- heard mostly about violent felons being sentenced. Yet
the initiative targeted all felons.

As "The Legacy" points out, people convicted of youthful indiscretions
such as possession of drugs for personal use or stealing a bicycle
could end up serving more time than a murderer.

Mark Klaas did not want his daughter's legacy to result in the
clogging of prisons and severe punishment of nonviolent offenders. He
tried to warn people of the flaws in "Three Strikes," but it was too
late. The nation's toughest sentencing law passed by a landslide in
1994.

Now California taxpayers are faced with spending money to build
prisons rather than universities. And the state is the toughest in
the country when it comes to nonviolent felons. Our courts and
prisons are over flowing.

By June 1998, one in five California inmates was sentenced under
"Three Strikes." In about 80 percent of the cases, there were
sentenced for nonviolent crimes.

Is this the legacy we want to pass on to our children?