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THE CAMPAIGN
"Three Strikes works for baseball, not for Justice" Justice Works! 3-Strikes campaign raises public awareness and political energy for reform or repeal of Washington's 3-Strikes law and in support of programs and investments demonstrated to make communities safer for lower fiscal and social cost. (1)
Washington was the first state in the nation to pass a 3-Strikes law. Voters approved I-593 in 1993 on promises that it would forever protect society from its "most violent" members.
The law has failed. Research shows that it is associated with marginal reductions in property crimes, negative impacts on violent crime, and high social and fiscal costs.
The 3-Strikes promise was empty from the start. Most 3-Strikes convictions are for less serious crimes. Of approximately 280 people now serving life sentences under the law, approximately 200, or about two thirds, have sentences relying on 1 or more convictions for crimes in the very lowest quartile of Washington's 16-level scale of seriousness at RCW 9.94A.515.
In 2001, Washington's Sentencing Guidelines Commission (SGC) recommended removing Robbery 2 and some forms of Assault 2 from the 3-Strikes list. This report can be read on the SGC's older publications page. For years, Washington legislators have introduced bills to do this. All bills have so far failed.
Justice Works! has been leading a grassroots public outreach and education campaign to raise the public outcry for effective, just, humane, and less costly methods of protecting public safety. We are reaching out at community festivals and events, making connections with community organizations, and educating the public on this law and on proven methods of reducing crime that do not violate the keystone principles of our criminal justice code: that punishments must fit the crime, allow people to improve themselves, and make frugal use of public resources.
This work includes: - Establishing a new 3 Strikes coordinating committee
- Working with many 3 strikers and their family members
- Building the team with participants from counties across the state.
- Increasing the methods and locations of our public education on 3 Strikes.
- Bringing information to public light by looking individually at 3- strikes cases through interviews, research, and blog stories written by 3-Strikers themselves.
- Gathering and communicating public documents and research on 3-Strikes and the social and policy context for this law.
- A letters to the editor program including many letters on the 3-Strikes law. This program produced 800 letters across the state in 2007
- A 3 Strikes play currently in production for presentation at community events.
- Freeway bannering with a 3 Strikes message.
- Tabling and flyering at community events.
- A new email rapid response system. CLICK HERE to receive 1-4 notices per month of key times to write decision makers and other reform opportunities.
WHO HAS SPOKEN
Washington's Sentencing Guidelines Commission is the state body that recommends sentences to the legislature and governor. In its 2001 annual Sentencing Reform Act Review it recommended that the legislature remove Robbery 2 from the 3-Strikes list and evaluate the inclusion of Assault 2, as some behaviors associated with that crime are “probably not commensurate” with 3-Strikes status.
Below is a small selection of the many of the other Washington voices on this law.
Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Sanders in testimony on Senate Bill 6120 in 2000: “Most people serving under 3-Strikes are there for "relatively minor offenses' because "those that commit truly violent crimes are already subject to long prison terms, meaning by the time that they are released from their second lengthy term, their chance for a third repetition is relatively slight, if for no other reason than old age or death in prison.”
King County Superior Court Judge Michael J. Fox, after sentencing Joseph Scott Wharton to life for Robbery 2 told a Seattle Times reporter that the case was "tragic," and that, although no one was hurt in the crimes, the law passed by voters in 1993 gave him no discretion.
King County Superior Court Judge Richard Ishikawa presided over the county’s first "three- strikes" trial: the second-degree-robbery trial of a man accused of stealing $337 from an espresso-stand operator. The man had two prior robbery convictions, and his conviction compelled Ishikawa to sentence him to life in prison. Ishikawa felt it was too much. "Nobody got hurt," Ishikawa said. "I might have given him five years.”
Former State Department of Corrections Secretary Chase Riveland: "Our three-strikes law passed by about 70 percent, so it is very popular," Riveland said. But it’s a placebo that somehow makes citizens think they are safer when they are not, and it keeps them from dealing with the issues of crime and violence in responsible ways." (Three Strikes Laws Proving More Show Than Go, McMurry, Kelly. Trial. Washington: Jan 1997. Vol. 33, Iss. 1.
Hubert G. Locke, Former Chairman, Sentencing Guidelines Commission, Former Dean Daniel J. Evans Graduate School of Public Affairs “… Unwilling to let the carefully considered efforts of public commissions stand without political tampering, Congress and state legislatures have encumbered sentencing guidelines with all sorts of added, punitive measures …
“… Together with the enactment of mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes and the notorious "three strikes, you're out" mandates, sentencing of convicted offenders has been taken out of the hands of judges ...
Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Janice Ellis, quoted in a 1/23/08 Seattle Weekly article: "I've always felt like robbery 2 and assault 2 should not be on the list" of three-strikes offenses. She notes that second degree assault is particularly common. "Maybe it's a reflection of our country, that we have a lot of bar fights.”
King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg in a January, 2008 phone conversation with a Justice Works! volunteer, stated that he was having an attorney look at some of the early King County 3-Strikes cases that involved robbery 2 and assault 2. "We don't believe in just throwing away the key," Satterberg said. "And we do deal with these cases in a different way now. Robbery 2 is a young man's game. Some of the assault 2 cases, as well.
Former prosecutor Alan Merson in a letter to the editor: “Three strikes places an unreasonable burden on the prosecution by taking away from the court its proper function of assessing both aggravating and mitigating factors in determining a sentence…. Mandatory minimum sentences such as three-strikes demean the critical role of the judge”., "Repeal of misguided legislation the best way to serve justice”. (Seattle P-I - 4/11/00)
STORIES These stories have been shared by 3-Strikers in collaboration with Justice Works! 3-Strikes reform campaign. They show by concrete example why the law is unjust and ineffective. The life paths described here all include one or more factors of poverty, addiction, childhood abuse, or mental illness. Programs addressing these factors have been shown to reduce crime at much less cost than incarceration alone. (2) Each person here was represented by a public defender. Washington public defense has been shown to be inadequate. (3, 4) Many 3-Strikes defendants receive inadequate defense. - Abuse of Discretion: Life Without Parole for Door Mat Burning
Steven Darby McDonald, Washblog, 6/30/06. - Freedom Culminating: Life Sentences Require Evidence Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
- Theodore Rhone with input from Frank Banks, Spencer Carter, and Anthony Jones, Washblog, 6/10/08.
- Life Sentence at 21 for No-Weapon No-Injury Crimes
- David Conyers, DailyKos, 5/25/08. This story made the recommended list
- National Significance of Washington's 3-Strikes Law
Noemie Maxwell, 4/6/08. - Three-Strikes Guest Post: I am not a Disposable Human Being
Ronald Peters, 3/27/08. - Imprisoned for life in WA for an attempted wallet grab
by Al-Kareem Shadeed, 1/15/08 - To Those Who Have Shown Notice to Cruel and Unconstitutional Laws in Washington State
by Joseph Scott Wharton, 1/1/08 - Guest post from WA State Reformatory: These crimes do not merit life imprisonment
by Stevan Dozier, 12/30/07 - INTRODUCE THIS! Submitting Resolutions at WA's Presidential Caucuses (3-Strikes Reform)
Noemie Maxwell, 12/30/07 - Life in prison without parole for low-violence crimes: can Washington find redemption?
Noemie Maxwell, 12/11/07 - This series was noted here: An effort to get politicians focused on needed sentencing reforms
Douglas A. Berman, Sentencing Law and Policy, 1/13/08.
OUTREACH MATERIALS
- SIGN IN SHEET SUPPORTING 3-STRIKES REFORM
WORD PDF
- FLYERS
- WHO HAS SPOKEN?
- WASHINGTON 3-STRIKERS (WORD) WASHINGTON 3-STRIKERS (PDF)
- ROBBERY 2 & ASSAULT 2: MOST SERIOUS?
- DID YOU KNOW?
- POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
JUSTICE IS NO GAME
- POSTER
We can mail you a "kit" for this poster -- everything but the display board and glue/scissors, etc. Or you can do the print-outs yourself. The pull-down menu below contains links to WORD and PDF versions of most of the elements show in the photo.
Click on the WORD or PDF file below to download those poster elements. The standard size paper for the seriousness scale and center title require cutting and pasting. The small logo is on standard sized paper and should be used only when it's not possible to print out the large logo. With advance notice, all of this can be printed out and sent to you.
NOTES
- For example, "Impacts of “Three Strikes and You’re Out”on Crime Trends in California and Throughout the United States Elsa Y. Chen Santa Clara University, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 2008, concludes that the effects of 3-Strikes on crime in California, which where approximately 100,000 people are serving under the law, are "mostly undetectable" and not different from the effects measurable in states, such as Washington, with many fewer 3-Strikes convictions. The author cites "tremendous monetary and social costs" and concludes that "the toughest sentencing policy is not necessarily the most effective option."
- For example, see Evidence-Based Public Policy Options to Reduce Future Prison Construction, Criminal Justice Costs, and Crime Rates, 2006 October. Steve Aos, Marna Miller, Elizabeth Drake. #06-10-1201, Washington State Institute for Public Policy
- The Unfulfilled Promise of Gideon, Washington State ACLU, 2004
# Overview of the Clark County, Washington Indigent Defense System in 2002. Prepared for the Board of Clark County Commissioners on behalf of the American Bar Association, Bar Information Program; December 2002.
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Coastal/Grays Harbor
