crimes have been saved (Wood,1999). He recognizes, however, that the decrease in crimeis not solely attributed to the three strikes law but thatis definitely is “not accidental” (Wood, 1999: 2). Hisreport has obvious flaws but is certainly something toconsider when discussing the effectiveness of this law. One interesting look at the impact of the three strikeslaw is to view it from the eyes of the actual offender. InMartin’s article A View from the Underworld: Life Afterthree Strikes, he tells of a friend of his that has a fewprior convictions but is out of prison at the time. Aftertrying to reach him by phone and being unsuccessful, hecatches up with him sometime later. He learns that hisphone was turned off and done so on purpose. Martin’sfriend explains it as so: “I’m afraid that someone willcall and ask me for a lawnmower part and a narcoticsdetective will get on the stand and say that ‘lawnmower’part was really cocaine or heroin and I’m gone” (Martin,1995: 2). This may serve as an example of how somecriminals that roam the streets feel about the three strikeslaw. If they have two prior convictions, it will not takemuch to get that third, leaving them on thin ice.The three strikes law seems to have more going againstit than for it at the present time. One major problem isthat it is not enforced everywhere it is available and whenenforced, it is not done so consistently. However, if thislaw were to be enforced as it were designed, it would have aprofound effect on our crime statistics in a good way. Oneway to possibly confront the problem of prison overcrowdingand financial burden would be the establishment of a releaseage wherein that criminals subjected to this law would bereleased after such a time. With all the research on thecrime rates of certain ages, there is bound to be an agewhere offenders could be released with the confidentassumption that they w...
