So true.
"The three-strikes policy currently costs approximately $500 million per year to implement, and in addition there are social and economical costs associated with maintaining the three-strikes policies. The application and enforcement of three-strikes laws are varied demographically, and the analyses of prison populations reflect this. In California, the social costs are borne disproportionately by African American men, who constitute only about 3% of the state's population, but represent approximately 33% of second-strikers and 44% of third-strikers among California prison inmates.[SUP]
[46][/SUP] African American men have been the subject of high rates of criminal offending and victimization. In
Florida, female offenders were rarely sentenced using three-strikes policies – however, when the females were African American, they were more likely to be sentenced under habitual offender laws.
When examining the intersectionality between age, race, sex, and employment status while controlling for legal factors, young Black and Hispanic males faced greater chances of imprisonment than middle-aged White males.[SUP][47][/SUP] Evidence shows that judges would often include stereotypes and characteristics of subgroups in order to apply the three-strikes laws.
Crime rates are not the only indicator relative to the reinforcement of these laws. Higher levels of racial heterogeneity in a population have been directly linked to the implementation of three-strikes laws – demonstrating racial disparities amongst the prison population.[SUP]
[48][/SUP] A large percentage of crime, particularly drug crimes and robbery, is convicted under the three-strikes policies.[SUP]
[49][/SUP]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-strikes_law
