Three-Strikes Law, Death Penalty Serve Their Purposes Letter Of The Week: From March 16

The March 7 Spokesman-Review reported, “Study shows ‘three-strikes’ laws don’t reduce violent crime rates.”

The three-strikes law does, in fact, work. It removes such offenders from society forever. That’s the intent of the law.

The death penalty does, in fact, work. It takes away the life of a person who has committed a heinous crime against society.

These laws are meant to punish. If in the process there happens to be a reduction in the crime rate, fine. But the intent is to severely punish those who don’t give a damn about our laws and our lives. Punishment must be severe and immediate.

Thanks to the likes of the American Civil Liberties Union and other whiners, ours is a marshmallow justice system. You can get a traffic ticket and whine to a judge to have it reduced by half. You can slaughter a person(s) and get nothing more than maybe 15 years in a not-so-tough prison system. From one extreme to the other, the punishment is similar. Not so tough.

If we get really tough on crime, it might really have the effect of reducing the number of people going through that revolving justice system door. Then, we might not need so many courtrooms. That would mean fewer judges at $90,000-plus every year. Not to mention all their support staff.

Think these folks will ever support getting really tough on crime? George Britton Spokane

xxxx