Study Shows ‘Three-Strikes’ Laws Don’t Reduce Violent Crime Rates

Fri., March 7, 1997

Associated Press

“Three-strikes” laws mandating long sentences for three-time violent offenders have made no apparent dent in bringing down crime in the country, a group that studies the justice system said Thursday.

Between 1994 and 1995, both violent and overall crime rates dropped more in the 37 states without three strikes laws than in the 13 that had such laws, said the Justice Policy Institute.

Violent crime fell 4.6 percent in states without the laws, compared to 1.7 percent in three-strike states, the liberal group said. For overall crime, the decline was 1.2 percent for states without the mandatory sentencing provisions and 0.4 percent for those with the provisions.

“It is entirely too early to conclude if three-strikes legislation is working or not. These early figures do show, however, that any politician running another campaign on the effectiveness of three strikes is blatantly misleading the public,” the report concluded.

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