... offenses. With a media-driven political climate that played to the voter's fears, California's Three-Strikes law soon imposed a mandatory 25 years-to-life sentence for non-violent crimes. With a prior arrest record, stealing a videotape could result in a prison sentence of one-quarter century. But bad law has a price. The financial blowback from Three-Strikes laid waste to California's already debt ridden budget. The price tag was $35,000 a year per inmate to maintain the more than 30,000 non-violent offenders in California prisons. This was passed on to California taxpayers at a rate of more than 1 billion dollars a year. And that figure got higher as more non-violent offenders were imprisoned. So far, it appears that California is ready to soften its tough on crime stance. The petition is considered a "stopper" by signature gatherers. One mention of amending "Three Strikes" gets the attention of a prospective signer. In a petition ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now