: : but ah, yes, you have the trhee strikes system just to be extra inhumane...: So you believe that someone who keeps committing crimes should be allowed to live free in society where they commit more crimes? I think the three strikes system is more than fair and humane for the criminal. When someone commits a crime and gets jail time (first strike) that is warning them not to do it anymore, or else. The second time, that is like telling them we told you once before and you still didn't listen, once more and your in for life. The third strike would be liketelling them "we gave you plenty of opportunities to quit your life of crime and you don't listen. We know now you will not stop unless you stay in jail for life."
Ah yes, the law, "the law which in its majestic equality frobids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." (Anatole France).
There are two kinds of crime, property crime and violent crime. Why do people commit property crimes? becaus ethey don't have property and otehrs do. Reduce the inequalities in income and you will reduce property crime. Social stratification is correlated with crime. inequality leads to alienation, which in turn leads to rpoperty crime.
Violent crime is mroe complex. Some crimes are idneed committed by strange people who are iredeemably evil. But otehrs are committed by people who got some bad breaks in life. I think we need to intergaarte them iunto society,m not lock them up and throw away teh key. I would reserve the death penatly only for 1) war criminals, 2) possibly serial killers, and 3) crimes of murder against teh State, e.g. Tim McVeigh.
: Personaly, I (and most Americans) believe all 50 states should have three strikes laws, not just Cali. I don't want any scumbag drug addict child abusing welfare abusing thieving alcoholic living in my neighborhood.
EVERYONE deserves welfare, whether you work or not. What right do you ro I have to tell someone how to ;live his life? We can advise him to work, ask him to work, buyt we cannot cit off his welafre to mnake him work. Even if he chooses not to do a lick of work, we must not cut off his welafre., He deserves it merely by the virtue of beoing human.
: The three strikes law is a good way of telling those people either you clean up your act or you spend the rest of your life in jail, you choose.
So many victims of teh three strikes policy ahve been thrown in prison for life for merely stealing food, eytc, that I can never support such a vicious law.
: By the way, how would you feel if someone you love was killed by somebody who had a criminal record a mile long (somebody who should have been in jail)? Would you still feel that locking up that person and throwing away the key is too harsh? I don't know about the UK but in the US it is far too common. It's the same thing with drunk driving. In most cases when someone is killed by a drunk driver, that drunk driver has been arrested before for DWI.
How woudl you feel if you were starving, you stole a piece of bread, got intoa fsitfight with teh cashgier,ma nd taht pout you in jail fro life?
: It's all too common. People who shouldn't be even allowed to be in society are, and they are committing more crimes. They don't even deserve freedom. (And by the way I'm not talking about petty crimes and misdemeanors either like littering, shoplifting etc...)
But teh lien bewteen petty and serious crime is hard to draw....why not try to prevent crime, insetad of dealing with it afetr the fact? We can prevent crime by intergarting everyone better into our society.
