social behavior. Likewise, the length of a particular sentence does not consider the concept of focusing on identifying individuals who represent an extreme threat of continuing criminal behavior. Three Strikes does not focus upon the particular new crime committed as the primary factor in sentencing; it focuses on the individual. This is consistent with accepted sentencing considerations: does this individual merit a longer term of incarceration because their conduct is aggravated by their past behavior? California law has long used enhancements for prior felony convictions to increase length of sentences. This same concept is acknowledged in the California Rules of Court covering appropriate sentencing considerations in choosing the length of term from among the three specified terms set for most crimes. (Cal. Rules of Court, rules 410-428.)

Another common argument in this context is that the Three Strikes Law is cruel. This -argument is apparently based on the imposition of long sentences for low grade "triggering" offenses. Again, the argument ignores the evaluation of the defendant's past record and focuses solely on the specific "triggering" felony. It also ignores accepted constitutional standards used in evaluating such arguments for their legal merit. I think the best response to such arguments is the one given by the United States Supreme Court. In Rummel v. Estelle (1980) 445 U.S. 263 the defendant was sentenced to life under a recidivist statute because he had obtained $120.75 by false pretenses after having previously been convicted of the felony of fraudulently using a credit card to obtain $80 worth of goods or services and the felony of passing a forged check. The United States Supreme Court held the sentence did not violate the Eighth Amendment provision prohibiting cruel or unusual punishment stating that the

primary goals [of a recidivist statute] are to deter repeat offenders and, at some point in the life of one who repeatedly commits criminal offenses serious enough to be punished as felonies, to segregate that person from the rest of society for an extended period of time. This segregation and its duration are based not merely on that person's most recent offense but also

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