Cruel Justice: Three Strikes and the Politics of Crime in America's Golden State

Cruel Justice: Three Strikes And The Politics Of Crime is a no-holds-barred look at the rise of the "three strikes" law in California, first instituted in 1994 in the wake of the media-followed murders of Kimber Reynolds and Polly Klaas. The vagaries and utter ruthlessness of the law have resulted in 25 year to life prison sentences for not only violent offenders, but countless individuals convinced of nonviolent crimes such as petty theft or serving as an alleged lookout for a $20 drug deal. The utterly brutal and disproportionate punishmet meted out to nonviolent offenders has caused the even the family of Polly Klaas to speak out openly against the law; yet it remains entrenched, and political interests resist every effort to amend it to apply only to "serious" or "violent" offenses. A stark and disturbing account of a very real and ongoing law that is causing tremendous impact in the state of California today. Highly recommended.