http://www.examiner.com/news/default.jsp?story=n.threestrikes.0823w
3-strikes law not working
By Dan Evans
Of The Examiner Staff
Two-thirds of all lifers convicted under California's "three strikes" law are nonviolent felons, calling into question whether the controversial law is reducing violent crime as intended.
A study that analyzed the effectiveness of the 1994 law found it sorely lacking, according to a report released today by The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
The law requires a mandatory sentence of 25-years-to-life imprisonment for people convicted of a third violent felony, There are 500 varieties of felonies, ranging from drug possession to simple theft.
District Attorney Terence Hallinan never was a fan of the three-strikes law, vowing not to seek the penalty for those who commit a nonviolent third crime. Spokesman Fred Gardner said Hallinan was prepared to bend that self-imposed rule for Charles Rothenberg, who was charged in June with arson, fraud and weapons possession. Rothenberg, 61, is infamous for setting his then 6-year-old son on fire in 1983. His son survived, but is terribly disfigured.
Even if the office had not been able to go forward with the arson charge, which is a violent felony, Gardner said, the DA would have filed for the maximum penalty against Rothenberg.
Officer Jim Deignan, a Police Department spokesman, said he hadn't seen the report and couldn't comment on its accuracy. Still, he finds it hard to believe that tougher sentencing hasn't contributed to recent crime-rate reductions.
"I think crime is down because they're sentencing more bad guys to time," he said.
The report by The Sentencing Project says the controversial law is creating a class of older and therefore more costly prisoners, all without reducing violent crime. Twenty-two percent of arrests in the state are of offenders above age 39, and only 5 percent are over 50, the report said.
Despite these arrest ratios, the study projects that by 2026, 30,000 offenders will be imprisoned for a third-strike, with 83 percent of them at least 40 years old.
Marc Mauer, assistant director of The Sentencing Project, said the state's three-strikes law is overburdening California's prisons. Since most of the offenders put away for good are not violent, he said, the law does not reduce violent crime.
Giving the following examples, Mauer said the sentencing disparities are hard to miss:
-- Scott Benscoter had two prior felony convictions for burglary when he was sentenced to 25-years-to-life for stealing a pair of sneakers;
-- Gregory Taylor, who was homeless, was sentenced to 25-years-to-life for breaking into a church pantry for food;
-- Geralyn Busnardo was sentenced to 25-years-to-life for crack possession, even though her last conviction for a violent offense was in the 1960s.
California, similar to other states, experienced a marked decrease in crimes between 1993 and 1999. But the study claims the 41 percent drop in that period was attributable to many factors -- an improved economy, declines in gang and drug activity, community policing and the aging of people most likely to commit crimes.
The study states there is no relationship between the crime drop and California's tougher sentencing guidelines. In fact, other jurisdictions without similar laws have had similar crime reductions over the same period. New York saw crime fall 40.9 percent, while Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and New Jersey each saw their crime rates fall about 30 percent.
E-mail Dan Evans at devans@sfexaminer.com
3-strikes law not working
By Dan Evans
Of The Examiner Staff
Two-thirds of all lifers convicted under California's "three strikes" law are nonviolent felons, calling into question whether the controversial law is reducing violent crime as intended.
A study that analyzed the effectiveness of the 1994 law found it sorely lacking, according to a report released today by The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
The law requires a mandatory sentence of 25-years-to-life imprisonment for people convicted of a third violent felony, There are 500 varieties of felonies, ranging from drug possession to simple theft.
District Attorney Terence Hallinan never was a fan of the three-strikes law, vowing not to seek the penalty for those who commit a nonviolent third crime. Spokesman Fred Gardner said Hallinan was prepared to bend that self-imposed rule for Charles Rothenberg, who was charged in June with arson, fraud and weapons possession. Rothenberg, 61, is infamous for setting his then 6-year-old son on fire in 1983. His son survived, but is terribly disfigured.
Even if the office had not been able to go forward with the arson charge, which is a violent felony, Gardner said, the DA would have filed for the maximum penalty against Rothenberg.
Officer Jim Deignan, a Police Department spokesman, said he hadn't seen the report and couldn't comment on its accuracy. Still, he finds it hard to believe that tougher sentencing hasn't contributed to recent crime-rate reductions.
"I think crime is down because they're sentencing more bad guys to time," he said.
The report by The Sentencing Project says the controversial law is creating a class of older and therefore more costly prisoners, all without reducing violent crime. Twenty-two percent of arrests in the state are of offenders above age 39, and only 5 percent are over 50, the report said.
Despite these arrest ratios, the study projects that by 2026, 30,000 offenders will be imprisoned for a third-strike, with 83 percent of them at least 40 years old.
Marc Mauer, assistant director of The Sentencing Project, said the state's three-strikes law is overburdening California's prisons. Since most of the offenders put away for good are not violent, he said, the law does not reduce violent crime.
Giving the following examples, Mauer said the sentencing disparities are hard to miss:
-- Scott Benscoter had two prior felony convictions for burglary when he was sentenced to 25-years-to-life for stealing a pair of sneakers;
-- Gregory Taylor, who was homeless, was sentenced to 25-years-to-life for breaking into a church pantry for food;
-- Geralyn Busnardo was sentenced to 25-years-to-life for crack possession, even though her last conviction for a violent offense was in the 1960s.
California, similar to other states, experienced a marked decrease in crimes between 1993 and 1999. But the study claims the 41 percent drop in that period was attributable to many factors -- an improved economy, declines in gang and drug activity, community policing and the aging of people most likely to commit crimes.
The study states there is no relationship between the crime drop and California's tougher sentencing guidelines. In fact, other jurisdictions without similar laws have had similar crime reductions over the same period. New York saw crime fall 40.9 percent, while Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and New Jersey each saw their crime rates fall about 30 percent.
E-mail Dan Evans at devans@sfexaminer.com