The Three Strikes Law and Politics - Essay Example

The aim was to keep violent and habitual crime perpetrators in prison for the longest time. This paper looks keenly into the political side of three-strikes laws.

Issue

Initially, three-strikes laws aimed at preventing consistent vicious criminals from roaming the streets. However, these laws have transformed significantly to the extent that the 2nd, 3rd and subsequent crimes do not need to be that serious. Shoplifting alone could land one in prison under this law. This is because the use of the laws has moved from a liberal point of view to a conservative point of view. This is because politics have taken center stage in the laws. Despite an outcry to alter the laws, politicians have failed to respond because they are afraid of losing the people’s confidence in their ability to fight crime. In the end, the three-strikes laws have jammed prisons with petty offenders at a massive cost of $22,000 per inmate per year.  The fact that some states do not consider the weight of the third offense calls for either an amendment to the law or total abolishment. This creates a hot debate about the three-strikes laws.

Worldwide, the largest prison system is in America. Two-thirds of the prisoners are either Latinos or blacks. Most of the prisoners are nonviolent offenders. The laws are laden with unintended upshots, but its change will only require a statewide vote (Reaves, 2003).

Statewide votes can never be genuine since politics will always play a big role in determining the outcomes. The absurdity of the law is that more than half of those behind bars as a result of the three-strikes laws are not in for serious crimes. Some of the crimes are as petty as shoplifting.

Many nationals do not understand the need for an overhaul of the three-strikes laws because politics and politicians try to make them ignorant of the situation. This ends up creating a situation in which civilians will always regard politicians as truthful. Since politics is a game of numbers, the laws may never be changed as long as politics is at play.

The supplementary number of prisoners inflates prison expenditure (Jones, 2008). This money could be diverted to something else in the national or state budget. Some of the offenses of criminals serving life imprisonment could qualify for probation or short-term confinements. The fact that emanates is that the three strikes law is full of injustices and is not cost-effective.

Politics still play a major role and senators will never want to appear as being soft on crime. Senators have the power to convince voters in a statewide vote to vote for an amendment on the three-strikes laws and make the third strike requirement to be a serious/violent offense.  

However, Domanick (2004) writes that prior politics have made Americans believe that crime is the worst vice in the society, hence politicians have taken advantage and have never wanted Americans to think of them as relenting on crime.

In general, the three-strikes laws have been turned into a political issue, hence their overhaul, which is overdue, will always meet challenges from politicians and their brainwashing game.

Initially, the three-strikes laws had an intention of eliminating serious crime offenders from American streets. With time, the laws turned out to be a political arena, targeting various groups. This means that politicians changed the requirements and altered the third strike requirement.