evaluating alteration in attitude, behavior or even age as a factor in evaluating further recidivism as a consideration before release.

Therefore, only people who have shown a clear tendency to commit "serious" and "violent" felonies, crimes that by definition involve a high degree of danger to human life and society, are sentenced under this law. They have all been through the criminal justice system at least once for extremely aggravated felony conduct and they have not been deterred from committing further felonious conduct. It is that new felony which "triggers" the application of the Three Strikes Law because the new felony clearly demonstrates the person has not been rehabilitated by the previous punishment, has not been deterred by the previous punishment, and retribution for the previous aggravated felony has not affected their behavior. These offenders are the ones that can be identified as having the greatest propensity for violence because of their past criminal records. These are the offenders who can be identified as not having been deterred by conventional concepts of punishment. These are the offenders who show the greatest likelihood of being among those who commit the largest percentage of crimes and who represent the greatest threat to the community. These are the offenders who are habitual criminals by any reasonable interpretation. These are the offenders targeted by the Three Strikes Law.

Therefore, the purpose of the Three Strikes Law was not primarily to deter the commission of specific crimes but to reduce crime in general. It was intended to catch career criminals and deal with them in a way that would serve the primary objective of the criminal justice system: to prevent and/or reduce crime. Thus, there are two questions to be addressed: 1) is the Three Strikes Law effective in catching career criminals and 2) is the Three Strikes Law effective in reducing crime?

Having provided the background and intention of the Three Strikes Law I would like to proceed to some of the criticisms as well as what I perceive to be some of the

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