three strikes law
Mandatory life imprisonment
A three strikes law mandates severe penalties—typically life imprisonment—for offenders convicted of three serious crimes.
The metaphor comes from baseball, where three strikes means you're out.
These laws emerged in the 1990s as part of "tough on crime" policies: He's facing life under the three strikes law.
Critics argue they disproportionately affect minor offenders.
- California lawLegal rules of California
- tough on crimeFavoring strict punishment
- recidivismHabitual return to crime
- mass incarcerationExcessive imprisonment at scale
- prison populationAll persons currently incarcerated
you're out · mandatory minimums · habitual offender · deterrence · sentencing · racial disparities · felony · prison overcrowding · sentencing reform · penal code · socioeconomic impact · wrongful conviction · rehabilitation · second chance · criminal justice system · appeals process · parole · constitutional law
- penologypenology, prisons, incarceration, parole board, prison
- 1990sMonica Lewinsky, impeachment, NAFTA, Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing
- punishmentpunishment, prison, jail, execution, hanging
- California PrisonsSan Quentin, Alcatraz, state prison, state prisons, correctional facilities
- repeat offendersrepeat offender, habitual offender, recidivist, habitual criminal, recidivism
- sentencinglife sentence, life sentences, prison sentence, death row, consecutive sentences
three strikes lawrestorative justice
Conflict resolution through mutual healing
judicial discretion · decarceration · probation · suspended sentence · alternative sentencing
three, strike, thrice, thirds, threefold, threesome, striker, strikes, striking