Calif. Voters Reject 'Three Strikes' Law Reform November 5, 2004
News Summary
Helped by an aggressive advertising campaign by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, voters in California rejected a measure that would have reformed the state's "three strikes" law and allow for the release of many nonviolent drug offenders from prison, the San Jose Mercury News reported Nov. 4.Early polls showed that voters overwhelmingly supported Proposition 66. But their minds were changed when a multimillion-dollar television blitz a week before the election warned that the initiative could result in the release of thousands of "murderers, rapists and child molesters."
The measure failed by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin. However, the battle over reform is likely to continue.
"Nobody is under the delusion that because this thing didn't pass, this is going to be the end of it," said Santa Clara County prosecutor David Tomkins, a three-strikes expert who opposed Proposition 66. "This sniping over three strikes needs to end."
Schwarzenegger said he would meet with Attorney General Bill Lockyer and legislators on possible improvements to the three-strikes law. "If there's something wrong with it you know that needs to be adjusted, then we should do that," he said.
California has the only three-strikes law in the nation that allows judges to impose 25-years-to-life prison terms for a non-violent third strike. Proposition 66 would have required the third strike to be a violent or serious felony in order to require a life sentence.
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