Pubdate: Tue,  02 Apr 2002
Source: Log Cabin Democrat (AR)
Copyright: 2002 The Log Cabin Democrat
Contact:  http://thecabin.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/548
Author: The Associated Press

SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON 'THREE-STRIKES' LAWS

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court said Monday it will review whether some 
three-strikes-and-out sentencing laws result in unconstitutionally harsh 
prison terms, such as up to life behind bars for shoplifting videotapes 
from Kmart.

The court agreed to hear appeals involving two California thieves sentenced 
to terms ranging from 25 years to life for small-time crimes that might 
otherwise have meant just a few months in jail.

The Supreme Court will consider whether long sentences were 
unconstitutionally cruel or unusual punishment for a heroin addict who 
shoplifted videotapes worth $153 and an AIDS patient who shoved three golf 
clubs down his pants leg and tried to walk out of a pro shop.

The court's eventual ruling could be limited to California, or it could 
make a more general statement about how far states may go in using similar 
laws to win long prison terms for relatively minor crimes.

Twenty-six states and the federal government have some version of a 
three-strikes law, which typically allow a life prison term or something 
close to it for a criminal convicted of a third felony.

Critics say the laws are too harsh and inflexible in general, and 
particularly so in California, which has the nation's strictest 
three-strikes law. It requires a sentence of 25 years to life in prison a 
third felony conviction.
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