not the way to deal with crime is to ignore the reality that we still have to deal with criminals. To say that imprisonment is the only way to reduce crime is to ignore the causes.

The Three Strikes Law does not advocate ceasing the search for alternatives to conventional incarceration that protect the public and deter crime. But it does accept the reality that, for whatever reason, some people are criminals. Once we get beyond whatever causes a person to become a criminal we must deal with an appropriate and effective way to reduce and deter crime.

The overall objective of punishment and its role in our criminal justice system is to prevent the commission of crime and/or deter the repetition of crime, i.e. recidivism. In accomplishing that objective through the development of the Three Strikes Law it was concluded it is less the existence of punishment itself as a deterrent in individual crimes than it is the effectiveness of the system in addressing the problem and focusing on the solution.

There are a number of different methods and theories to take into account in deciding how to reduce crime generally and serious and violent criminal behavior in particular- more police, more courts, tougher laws, tougher judges, etc. It was concluded in the formulation of the concept that the most efficient approach was to try to craft a law that would effectively accomplish the objective of reducing crime and serious and violent criminal behavior through the use of sentencing. In using such an approach, however, one needs to evaluate the conventional sentencing structure and the purpose of punishment. This is where the Three Strikes Law operates on a different basis than conventional sentencing laws.

Laws are written by people who make certain assumptions about punishment and its effects on crime. First of all, the people who draft laws generally look at it from their perspective of what would affect them, the drafters. In other words - "a long sentence would scare me." "A longer sentence would scare me more." "Incarceration would cause

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