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In the wake of the widely publicized Polly Klaas murder, California Governor Pete Wilson signed Into law on March 7, 1994 one of the most punitive sentencing statutes in recent history. 

This analysis supports three legislative recommendations: repeal the current version of three strikes; amend the three-strikes law to require the third strike to be a violent crime; and require and fund further research on crime-control effects of three strikes and its financial impact on California’s budget.

California’s Three-Strikes Law Ineffective