Further Reading
Foskett, Ken.Judging Thomas: The Life and Times of
Clarence Thomas.New York: HarperCollins, 2004.
Phelps, Timothy M., and Helen Winternitz.Capitol
Games: Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, and the Stor y of a
Supreme Court Nomination.New York: Hyperion,
1992.
Thomas, Andrew Peyton.Clarence Thomas: A Biogra-
phy.San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2001.
David M. Jones
See also Abortion; African Americans; Bush,
George H. W.; Conservatism in U.S. politics; Elec-
tions in the United States, 1992; Ginsburg, Ruth
Bader; Hill, Anita;Planned Parenthood v. Casey;Re-
publican Revolution;Romer v. Evans;Shaw v. Reno;
Supreme Court decisions; Women in the workforce;
Women’s rights.
Three strikes laws
Definition Laws that require mandatory sentences
for offenders convicted of three or more
felonies
During the 1990’s, state governments passed “three strikes
laws” that require mandator y sentences for repeat or habit-
ual offenders. The impacts of such laws have been contro-
versial.
Reflecting a growing “tough on crime” movement,
the 1990’s saw the passage of state laws designed to
give repeat or habitual offenders tougher and lon-
ger sentences than first-time offenders. As per the
rules of baseball, where a batter is allowed two failed
attempts to hit the ball (strikes) before striking out
(failing again) on the third attempt, three strikes
laws require courts to hand down mandatory and ex-
tended prison sentences to a person convicted of a
crime for the third time. The state of Washington
passed the first three strikes law in 1993. California
followed in 1994. By 1999, three strikes sentencing
laws had been passed in twenty-four states.
While the specifics of three strikes laws and their
application vary from state to state, generally under
such laws a third felony conviction requires a sen-
tence of life imprisonment without eligibility for pa-
role for a long period of time, most commonly
twenty-five years. While some state laws require all
three felony convictions to be for serious or violent
crimes, California law does not. California’s law was,
according toNewsweek, “the toughest law in the na-
tion,” as it was the harshest, most sweeping, and most
controversial. While it did put murderers, rapists,
and child molesters behind bars, it also put thou-
sands of nonviolent repeat offenders in prison for
twenty-five years to life, when their third strikes were
less serious crimes such as shoplifting, check forg-
ery, or purchase/possession of drugs. Proposition
66, which attempted to reform and limit California’s
law to violent and/or serious felonies, was rejected
by California voters in 2004.
Despite disagreements over effectiveness and im-
pacts, and numerous efforts to repeal, reform, or re-
vise them, three strikes laws have survived in one
form or another and continue to inspire controversy
into the twenty-first century.
Impact Proponents argue that three strikes laws
protect law-abiding citizens by removing dangerous
repeat offenders from the street and that such laws
prevent crime and reduce the incidence of crime,
the number of criminals, the prison population, and
the cost of law enforcement and prison mainte-
nance. Critics argue that three strikes laws are ineffi-
cient, costly, and implemented unfairly or dispro-
portionately on minorities. They point to increasing
numbers of people being incarcerated and the re-
lated problems of prison overcrowding and cost.
Three strikes laws appear to have disproportionately
affected African Americans, Latinos, and women. As
many men and women who are incarcerated are par-
ents, their children are also affected negatively by
long separations resulting from the harsh sentences
of three strikes laws.
Further Reading
Domanick, Joe.Cruel Justice: Three Strikes and the Poli-
tics of Crime in America’s Golden State. Berkeley: Uni-
versity of California Press, 2004.
Reynolds, Mike, Bill Jones, and Dan Evans.Three
Strikes and You’re Out: A Promise to Kimber—The
Chronicle of America’s Toughest Anti-Crime Law.
Fresno, Calif.: Quill Driver Books, 1996.
Walsh, Jennifer.Three Strikes Laws. Historical Guides
to Controversial Issues in America. Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2007.
John W. EngelSee also Conservatism in U.S. politics; Crime; Drug
use.The Nineties in America Three strikes laws 857