Customer Reviews

Three Strikes and You're Out!: The Chronicle of America's Toughest Anti-Crime Law

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the story of how one man, working to overcome theheartbreak of his daughter's murder by a repeat felon,fought the powers that be and changed the system. It's a behind the scenes look at how politics works (or doesn't!) for the citizens. It may be nonfiction, but it reads like a thriller. Fast- paced, intriguing, often scary in its frank portrayal of politics as usual.

This book is an embarrassment. Badly written, badly conceived. A sad, incomplete, and partial account of the tragic slippage from personal grief to the collective tragedy of a policy that does nothing but aggravate the problem it is supposed to solve. Relies on emotion, not on argument. Pitiful.

If you are looking for an honest, intelligent account of the Three Strikes law, its origins, and its impacts, this is NOT the book to read.

The murder of Kimber Reynolds was a tragic, sad, horrendous event, and my heart goes out to Mike Reynolds. I can see how he would want to start a crusade to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again.

I am a policy analyst who has done a great deal of reearch on Three Strikes. There are various potential benefits of the Three Strikes law, but the impacts on the budget and the corrections system will probably be vast. These costs and effects are never discussed in this book. The details of the law are glossed over.

The book is a pathetic attempt to turn a sad story into heavy-handed propaganda for a controversial law and its proponents. It's like an overly long campaign leaflet, launching harsh attacks on the law's opponents and making the law's proponents out to be heroes.

Easily one of the worst books I have ever read. If there were any way to give it less than one star, I certainly would.

Until Mike became motivated by the loss of his daughter, California's prisons were a short stopover for violent criminals on their way to their next victim. Poor grammar aside, the book vividly portrays California's legislature being run by an immensely strong liberal cadre of men dedicated not to the public who elected them but to a political philosphy out of step with common sense and the one man who ran the assembly at that time, Willy Brown.

Not only was Kimber sensely sacrificed but also Polly Klaas. Polly was kidnapped from her home during a pajama party then raped and killed by a repeat felon just out of prison. This took place just as the initiative was being circulated for signatures. The event so moved the hearts and souls of the citizens of California that the politicians resisting the prison reform effort either got out of the way or joined the ranks of those supporting it.

The Three Strikes law has accomplished what it set out to do: Take dangerous repeat offenders off the street! Not only is crime down over 46% here in the state (2000 stats) but not one single prison has been built. In fact, prison population is down.

The only senseless thing is why did so many have to suffer and die and why did it take so long to bring about this common sense reform?

New Yorkers take note!