California’s three strikes law requires mandatory, extended imprisonment for anyone convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more separate occasions. It was passed in the wake of a violent parolee’s murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993. We examine the history and politics of the three strikes law.
Should the law be reformed, or even repealed? Or is its current enforcement acceptable?
Guests:
Barry Krisberg, director of the Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law
Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a nonprofit, public interest law organization dedicated to the rights of crime victims and the criminally accused
Jan Scully, district attorney for Sacramento County and president of the National District Attorneys Association
Nancy O'Malley, district attorney for Alameda County