Three Strikes Reform Act
In 2012, voters overwhelmingly enacted the Three Strikes Reform Act (“Proposition 36”) to address the harshest, and unintended, consequences of the sentencing law. Prop. 36 eliminated life sentences for non-serious, non-violent crimes and established a procedure for inmates sentenced to life in prison for minor third strike crimes to petition in court for a reduced sentence. In order to win a reduced sentence, a court must find that the prisoner no longer poses an unreasonable threat to public safety. Prop. 36 was the first voter initiative since the Civil War to reduce the sentences of inmates currently behind bars.
In the first eight months of its enactment, over 1,000 prisoners were released from custody under Prop. 36. Of these inmates released, the recidivism rate stands at less than 2 percent charged with a new crime, a number well below state and national averages. Proposition 36 has saved California taxpayers between $10 and $13 million; and if the reform is applied to all eligible inmates, it is estimated that Californians would save almost $1 billion over the next ten years.
