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The Times' review of all 98 third-strike cases resolved between the enactment of the law last March and Aug. 31 found that the law is taking a harsher toll on California's justice system than on its criminals. Third-time defendants who face the prospect of 25 years to life, as the law demands, are no longer willing to enter into the plea-bargaining arrangements that used to settle 90% of all felony cases. Instead, they prefer to sit in county jail, awaiting trial. The result is a swelling jail population, a mushrooming court docket and endless trial delays. To stem the tide, prosecutors are ignoring new "strikes," and judges are reducing felonies to misdemeanors. The result: just 1 in 6 eligible defendants has been packed off to prison for the 25-year minimum. "I've been a Republican all my life, and I'm afraid I'm starting to sound like a Democrat," Judge Carol Fieldhouse of the Los Angeles Superior Court told TIME. "I've never seen something before where D.A.s, defense lawyers and judges agree. This thing is not working."
They also agree that the biggest problem is the law's indiscriminate sweep. Unlike the three-strike provision of the federal crime bill passed by Congress last August, the law in California does not distinguish between violent and nonviolent felons. "In principal, the law is a good idea," says Judge Arthur Jean, another Republican on the Los Angeles Superior Court. "In practice, it nets in a huge number of lightweight offenders." Judges feel it excessive to dole out life sentences for such felonies as drug possession and tire theft.
California is not alone in finding three strikes more of a headache than a deterrent or remedy. At present, 13 other states have three-strike laws, while seven more are considering such legislation. "Some of the early reports we're getting from various states about three strikes are not very encouraging," says Bobbie Huskey, president of the American Correctional Association. "States are having to project a doubling or tripling of their state prison populations."
Meanwhile, in California even judges in the juvenile courts, where the three-strike law does not apply, are feeling its heat. "The punitive messages * seem to be the only ones that get out to the public, and that is a problem," says Judge Steven Perren of the Ventura County Superior Court. "As long as the community's attitude toward juveniles is 'punish,' we all lose. There is a large segment here that is salvageable."
That is precisely what prevention advocates have been arguing for years. Now they have the Park Association's report to bolster their hunch. Police in Dallas recorded a 26% drop in juvenile arrests after a gang-intervention program, sponsored by 17 civic organizations, began reaching out to 3,000 youths in 1989 with education, recreation and job-training programs. "At one time, we felt we could handle the crime problem by ourselves," says Dallas police chief Ben Click, a 30-year veteran of law enforcement. "We were forced to realize that we needed the help of people in the schools, churches and neighborhoods."