Three Strikes And Truth In Sentencing Legislation Essays

Three Strikes And Truth In Sentencing Legislation The actual ?law? has five major moving parts. First there is the ballot initiative (i.e. Proposition 184), then there is the actual statute that was passed, and then there are three other code sections that identify the types of violations that count as ?strikes? against you. Those other types of sections are labeled juvenile felonies, serious felonies, or violent felonies. In 1997 the Wisconsin State Assembly voted 86-8 to approve what many supporters call a ?truth- in- sentencing? bill. The bill proposed that convicts should serve no less than 100 percent of their sentences as a get-tough-on-crime measure. The bill also would require prisoners to be under community supervision for at least 25 percent of their prison time after they are released. Wisconsin prisoners would stay behind bars for their entire sentence without any chance for parole. Both Three Strikes and Truth In Sentencing legislation have been advocated as punitive and deterrence strategies for reducing violent crime within our communities. Three Strikes laws impose long prison sentences for third felony convictions. These laws are designed to curb repetitive serious criminal behavior. Washington State enacted the first law of this type in 1993. Since then, more than two-dozen states and the federal government have enacted three strikes laws. The state of Minnesota doesn't have an official three strikes law, although it does have a law mandating a life sentence for certain sexual offenders who commit a third sexual offense. Minnesota requires a mandatory sentence of at least the length of the presumptive sentence under the sentencing guidelines for persons convicted of two or more prior felony convictions for violent crimes. Also, Minnesota's heinous crimes law requires the court to sentence an offender convicted of second-or-third-degree murder to the statutory maximum sentence if the offender was discharged from a prior heinous crime sentence within the past ten years . Robbery, theft, assault, and motor vehicle theft continues to decline. Is there a relationship between these types of crimes and those who are now incarcerated? It is generally recognized that a minority of criminals commit a majority of the crimes; therefore, one offender may be responsible for multiple incidents within a type of crime. In defending the three strikes legislation, California Governor Pete Wilson stated that two-thirds of violent crime perpetrated by less than 10% of convicted felons. He further related that during the first three years of the law, 2,900 violent criminals were imprisoned, while overall crime dropped 20%, with violent crime down 9.3% and property crimes down 14% . Most states have initiated tougher sentencing for habitual offenders and for crimes that have a link to additional criminal acts. Since 1990, the number of people in custody has risen more than 577,100 or 1,708 inmates per week. Today, more than 1.7 million people are confined in state, federal, and local correctional facilities. As the r epeat offenders are taken off the streets, it is reasonable to expect that the repeatable crimes should significantly decline. In the 1980's, crime in Texas jumped 29% creating a ratio of eight crimes for every 100 citizens. During the 1990's, after the creation of additional prison space and a concerted effort to fill it with repeat offenders, the rate dropped to 5.6 crimes per 100, the lowest since 1973 . Some of the benefits and costs of the new law are that if fully implemented, the new law will reduce serious felonies committed by adults in California between 22 and 34 percent. This reduction in crime will be bought at a cost of an extra $4.5 billion to $6.5 billion per year in current dollars . The intent of the three-strikes law is, of course, to lock up repeat offenders longer, and that requires the construction and operation of more prisons. Some police and court costs may be saved in not having to deal so often with such offenders once they are locked up, but greater prison costs overwhelm such savings. Many questions arise when getting the new law all squared away such as alternatives. What would happen if the state got rid of ?strikes? and instead guaranteed that those convicted of a serious crime serve their full sentence? In other words,

Monster and Hero Essay Example

Monster and Hero Essay Example Monster and Hero Essay Monster and Hero Essay Essay Topic: Invisible Monsters Thuan Pham WRT 102 Monster and Hero Throughout history, the image of monster and hero has been very familiar and popular in literary works. Maybe the first literary image of monster and hero appeared in the Greek mythologies. Monster usually represents for evil and for what human wants to fight against. Otherwise, hero represents for the good, the beauty and for desire to overcome the limitations of human being. In the sections I have read, the character which I consider most heroic is Superman. Though I am not an American, I watched movies and read a lot of comic books about Superman when I was child. Like other children, he was the one whom I wish I could be. First Superman has a perfect morality. Superman chooses to do right because of his willingness and his own righteousness. While other superheroes do rights because of their personal incentives such as Batman or Spiderman. Moreover force is just the last choice of Superman when there is no alternative way to deal with fight. Though he is so powerful, he never looks himself above Earthlings. He never sees himself as God, but he just considers himself as a guardian for the weak. I remember a quote, â€Å"The real power is not to tread other’s shoulder underfoot to satisfy personal egoism, but the real power is to lift other on our shoulder. † Superman has that real power. Second important element which make Superman become true hero is his identity as Clark Kent – newspaper reporter. With Clark Kent, Superman can have the conversation with normal people, can understand their points of view. He can view the world through the eyes of normal people. As a reporter, he has the chance to contact with variety of people. As a result, he has more sympathy and it supports for his actions and decisions as a Superman. That is one important reason that he usually tries to avoid using force if it is not the only last choice. In many situations, Clark Kent is very useful in regulating the image of Superman in the eyes of other people. Obviously, there are many people doubting about Superman’s motive just because of he is so powerful. Clark Kent in many contexts directs people to hink positively about Superman. He does not want to control his public image. He just hopes that people trust him and understand him more. As a Christian, I see there are a lot of similarities between Superman and Jesus Christ. Jesus walked the world as a human, suffered miseries, experienced limitation, and weakness of human. Thus, Jesus can feel sympathetic for human. Last but not least, his mobility makes his most heroic. He has incredible speed. He can fl y and can hear a call for help from everywhere, so he can approach immediately. Superman does not protect not only his city Metropolis but also the global world as we can see in the movie â€Å"Superman Return I†. I see there is a similarity at this point between American and Superman. With me, the American seems to take cares of not only their own country but also the world. For example, American helped Iraq, and recently Libya to eliminate dictatorialness and so on. With his mobility, Superman can help many people mostly at the same time. About the monster, in my opinion, the most monstrous character is Arnold Friend in â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been† of Joyce Carol Oates. First, after reading story, many people and critics believe that Arnold Friend is fictitious character which is created by the imagination or dream of main character Connie (Gratz par 1). On the other side, I see that Arnold Friend is the embodiment of Devil or Satan who took advance of Connie’s desire to be free from her family and to explore her own sexuality. With the physical monster or, at least, we know what we have to fight with. However Arnold is a kind of spiritual monsters which attacks the choice between right and wrong inside Connie. The invisible enemy is always much more dangerous than visible enemy. Her dream or her imagination about Arnold represents for her perspective on real life (Gratz par 3) If she had a wrong decision in her dream, she maybe would choose wrong way in real life. Moreover Arnold said that he marked Connie by his X sign (Retelling 191). This sign means that â€Å"she is marked for Satan’s test† (White par 18). Thus, the future of her soul will be decided base on her decisions in the test. Obviously, the end of story implied â€Å"either her death or the death of part of her (Gratz par 4)†. Second, Arnold seemed to be good and unharmful at first. He fooled Connie by his outward appearance like teenage boy, fake name, affected manners. Thus, Connie did not beware of him. That make him really dangerous monster. He knows very clearly about his prey. He knows everything about her such as her friend, her behavior. Especially he appeared with Bobby King music which Connie had just listened. Thus he easily started conversation. Lastly, this monster is very interesting in mental torture and verbal threat instead of physical force. He used her family to threaten Connie. I feel that there seem to be invitation in the threat of Arnold. He was very patient to wait until Connie totally and willingly surrender to him. This monster seems to want a perfect victory and to possess absolute Connie from the inside out. Finally, the sentence â€Å"She watched herself†¦. watching this body and this head†¦where Arnold Friend waited. (Retelling 197)† reveals that Connie totally gave up. Through this sentence, the author seems to imply about the separation of soul from body. Connie in the end visualizes herself detaching from reality and degrading her virtue. This monster erodes and eats the soul of Connie before harm her body. Monster and hero make literary world more interesting and become indispensable to literature. Work Cited Gratz, David K. Oatess WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?. Explicator 45. 3 (1987): 55. Literary Reference Center. Web. 4 Nov. 2012. Clarke, Marlene, and Arlene Clarke. Retellings : a thematic literature anthology. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print. White, Terry. Allegorical evil, existentialist choice in OConnor, Oates and Styron. The Midwest Quarterly 34. 4 (1993): 383+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Nov. 2012.