Dan Lungren

Many states have implemented a “three-strikes” law in which criminals receive mandatory sentences for their first and second crimes; criminals convicted of a third violent felony are sent to prison for life. In the following viewpoint, former California attorney general Dan Lungren argues that the three-strikes law is a fair and effective approach to combating crime. The law is responsible for the state’s declining crime rate, he maintains, because it forces criminals to choose between giving up a life of crime and spending the rest of their lives in prison.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What facet of sentencing is still left to the judge’s discretion, according to Lungren?
2. What are the objections to three-strikes laws, according to the law’s opponents?
3. According to the author, how...