Pubdate: Mon, 27 Aug 2001
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Copyright: 2001 World Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.tulsaworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/463

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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom