Three Strikes Laws: Why does California hate black people?

California's infamous Three Strikes Laws, which hand out a life sentence based upon the alleged unredeemable character of a convict, rather than a sentence befitting the crime, has succeeded in producing a 50% rate of all those convicted under this law being black.

Even though 12% of the population is black.

That's right, half (50%) of all those receiving a life sentence under California's Three Strikes Laws are black, but only 1-in-8 citizens are black?

Is this Californias way of dealing with poverty-stricken troubled youth?

Sure looks like it.

Time to end this Three Strikes Law madness and put judgement back into the hands of judges and juries, instead of power-hungry legislators.
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Fair enough, someone asked for a solution, and I should give one. While I prefer that judges and juries decide sentencing, I would be okay if the legislators said that after the "third strike", all sentences for particular crimes would be the max.

So maybe stealing video tapes has a penalty range of "probation" to "1 year in state jail". Then a "3rd Striker" would automatically get the "1 year in jail" for such a crime.

Or, a robbery might have a "2 to 15 years in prison" penalty, so a "3rd striker" would automatically get the "15 years".

But the problem with todays 3 strikes, where misdemeanors can be upped to felonies and incure a mandatory life sentence is wrong. Just wrong. There is no way someone who had a troubled youth and committed a couple of crimes should as an adult get life for being caught with a marajuana cigarettte.

Three Strikes Law is evil law. Not even the Nazi's did that.

Jonathan H

ok its is a mornic law but what can you expect from caly but its not racist most crimes are commied by blacks im black and my 2 hommies in prison make it clear

AdamBeaz

its not the fault of the law that the blacks of California are the ones who are continually getting arrested.
When a person gets arested for breaking the law its their own damn fault not the "system".

Fuzzybutt

So should we wait untill someone committs 10 crimes...

Or should wait wait untill it happens to someone you know.

If you havent learned your lesson or havent grown up
after 2 offenses - sounds like you have a problem

I dont believe it is a race issue.

alakazam

I think that you maybe should address the following question: Why is it that the majority of three or more time felons are black? Maybe we should work on social issues before we say the law is unjust.

BRYAN H

the question is" why is such a large portion of the black population committing crimes?" the rules are for everyone and just because PEOPLE are stupid enough to keep committing crimes does not mean we should create a "learning curve" for them. i am smart enough to know that if it is three strikes and major jail time if i do illegal sctions, i do not do it. maybe rules should just be for smart people?

El Pistolero Negra

Perhaps if there were more white repeat offenders that percentage wouldn't be that high. Those damn white folks and there lack of criminal behavior. Don't they know it's bigotry to be a law abiding citizen and not make the population numbers in prison match those of the overall population!!

KayKay

seriously it has nothing to do with a skin color! It has to do with the crimes! If the punishment fits so be it!
Three strikes has no color code a white man makes the same mistakes as a black man...they broke the law and must be punished

smedrik

Altering the laws to create less black people and balance out the numbers would be a form of racism.

The law is applied unilaterally giving not preference to anybody. It is unfortunate that a large number of offenders happen to be black, however the law itself is not racist.

Its not that 50% of the people who are receiving life sentences are black its just that 50% of the people who are commiting the crimes are black. Thats nobodies fault but their own.

Philip McCrevice

Sounds to me like more blacks commit repeat offenses than whites.

What's your point?

If you've been convicted of two felonies, and you know the next one will be a live sentence, and you commit another felony, you are so stupid you should be in jail for life!

Diderot

Uhmmm. maybe they would not be committing crimes.

Susie D

Perhaps it is because the majority of the crimes are being comitted by blacks?

It is not the law or the state that "hates blacks" it's the enduring issue that blacks are their own worst enemy and rather than contribute to society a large portion of opting to contribute only to prison over population.

â™¥â™¥The Queen Has Spokenâ™¥â™¥

Nope the Nazi's didn't do that..... They just took you out back and shot your brains out!

future lambo owner

no, its simple - dont commit a crime nothing to worry about
the law doesnt care what color your skin is, a law is a law
if the dumb ni**ers cant stay out of trouble thats their problem

Mr. PhD

3 strikes laws generally don't work. However, no misdemeanors are being increased to felonies. This also has nothing to do with being black. I think by stating this as fact, you are in fact being a racist.

The 3 strikes law in CA was passed by the people - about 78% in fact - not by legislators.

Georgia Girl

Listen to the Black Gunman...he's awesome!

adw644

If you haven't learned your lesson by third crime you are never going to learn. Why should the rest of us law abiding citizens be forced to live with criminals stealing and destroying our neighborhoods. I don't care what color you are. You know the rules and if you don't follow them prison is where you will end up.

Whoops, is this your spleeen?

Maybe the law should be amended so that if you're white you only get 3 strikes, but if you're black you get 10. Is that what you're suggesting?

Or perhaps it should stipulate that the number of strikes varies constantly to make sure that the percentage of blacks given life sentences never exceeds the percentage of blacks in the general population?

Granted, there is a certain systemic predjudice in our society that causes blacks to be targeted, arrested and convicted at a higher rate than is warranted. However, be that as it may, even without that systemic flaw, blacks still commit WAY more than their share of crimes. Why is that?

So sure, the systemic problems should be addressed. But I think that is the much smaller part of the problem. And it seems to me that the black community puts a lot more energy into whining about that injustice, than they do addressing the HUGE problem of why the he** do so many blacks commit drug crimes and violent crimes and what can be done to change it!

And by what can be done to change it, I suggest that the black community not view that as what can the government and society do for us but rather what can we do for ourselves to address this problem and fix it.

Consul of Rome

If they would stop after the first crime, maybe the slime wouldn't be in jail under 3 strikes.

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

ducky

Hi Tex,

How many blacks has Texas put to death in the last 20 years ?
Compare that number to the number of whites in Texas who have been executed.
No look at the % of population in Texas of who is white and black.

And you say we hate blacks ?!?!

Maybe you guys could stop killing them ?

david b

I think it should be 3 stikes your out, but only if the strikes are deliberate violent crimes, no accidents or bad judgement. Only certain crimes, not all felonys. If a man shoots someone why should he get another chance to strike, it should be one strike your out. You really need to ask those black men why they are breaking the law.

Lisa

I agree its evil & should be voted out

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