three strikes
Out at bat
Three strikes refers to laws mandating severe sentences—typically life imprisonment—for offenders convicted of three serious crimes.
The term comes from baseball, where three strikes means you're out: He's facing life under the three strikes law.
The policy spread through U.S. states in the 1990s, though critics argue it leads to disproportionate punishment for minor third offenses.
- baseballBat-and-ball team sport
- outNot present here
- lawBinding principle or regulation
- prisonConfinement for offenders
- felonySerious criminal offense
mandatory · mandatory minimum · sentencing · batter · full count · pitcher · umpire · count · swing · miss · foul · life · life sentence · incarceration · crime · California · repeat · offender
- strikeoutsstrikeout, K, looking, fanned, punch out
- baseballbaseball, bat, pitchers, catchers, pitcher
- criminal justicearrest, jail, court, prison, crime
- prisonsprison, inmates, cells, prisons, prisoner
- Number Phrasesone and only, two cents, four corners, five senses, six feet under
- criminal lawcrime, felony, misdemeanor, murder, robbery
three strikessecond chances
Additional opportunities after failing
restorative justice · judicial discretion · leniency · probation · clemency
three strikesfresh start
Opportunity to restart unburdened
clean slate · do-over · mulligan · reprieve · another chance
three, strike, strikes, thrice, thirds, thirdly, threefold, thirteen, thirty