Advocacy Issues > No Three Strikes

3 Strikes: Just Say No!

Updated February 20, 2008

3 Strikes Laws Would:

Increase The Racial Disparity In Our Prisons

Blacks are 12 times more likely to be imprisoned than Whites in CT. Hispanics are 6.6 times more likely to be imprisoned than Whites in CT. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2005)
Most illicit drug users are White. In 2004, White people represented 88% of CT�s drug-induced overdose deaths. Yet 58% of those in state prisons for drug felonies are Black. Among persons convicted of drug felonies in state courts, Whites were less likely than Blacks to be sent to prison, 33% vs. 51%. (http://www.abwf-ct.org/schoolzonemaps.pdf)
(http://www.drugwarfacts.org/racepris.htm)

Add To Connecticut�s Prison Overcrowding Problem

Connecticut �s prisons are already overcrowded; we have prisons where inmates are sleeping in hallways, gyms and visitation rooms. In one facility, 60 inmates are sleeping on the gymnasium floor and sharing one toilet and sink. These conditions are not only inhumane but also extremely dangerous.

Require A Significant Increase In Our Prison Costs

Connecticut already spends over $670 million on Corrections and currently imprison over 19,000 persons. OFA indicates that these new laws at the very least would cost at least $5 million and if the impact even approaches California�s experience would require the building of new prison facilities that could cost over $500 million.

Eliminate Judicial Discretion

Mandatory minimum sentences shift the authority of crafting appropriate sentences from judges to legislators. Judges are trained to consider the accumulated facts and circumstances of a criminal event and the characteristics of the defendant, and use their institutional wisdom to develop a suitable sentence.

Are Not Supported By Connecticut Residents

A November, 2007 Quinnipiac University Poll found when asked �Do you think a person convicted of a third violent felony should automatically be sentenced to life in prison, or should the sentence for a third violent felony be decided on a case by case basis�, 63% of the respondents said on a case by case basis compared to 35% who thought they should be sentenced to life in prison.

Text courtesy of the American Civil Liberties Union and Coalition Against Three Strikes.

Resources on 3-Strikes Laws