California to ease 3-strike law, poll says

SAN FRANCISCO – California voters may be poised to reverse parts of the state’s “three-strikes” law that has put thousands of nonviolent felons behind bars for life.

According to a poll released Thursday, 76 percent of likely voters said they were inclined to support a November ballot initiative that would soften the law that Californians overwhelmingly passed a decade ago.

Just 14 percent of respondents opposed the initiative, the Field Poll reported. The margin of error was about plus or minus 6 percentage points.

The ballot initiative would make a convicted felon eligible for a 25-years-to-life sentence only if the third offense is violent or serious. Possession of small amounts of drugs, for example, would be exempt, as would petty theft.

California is the only state with three-strikes language that doesn’t require a third felony conviction be violent or serious to trigger the harshest sentence.

In one infamous case, a man who pilfered a piece of pizza got 25 years because it was his third felony.

Several of California’s strongest political lobbies, including the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, oppose the initiative.

The proposal would send up to 26,000 felons back onto the street, according to Californians United for Public Safety, the group that has organized in opposition.

On Thursday, that group disputed the Field Poll’s results, saying its internal polls have shown just a 25-14 margin of support, with 61 percent of respondents undecided.