John Cloud

“Three-strikes” laws, which impose mandatory prison terms for drug crimes and felonies, are unfair, ineffective, and extremely costly, argues John Cloud in the following viewpoint. Imprisoning young first-time offenders only ensures that their role models are hardened, older criminals, he asserts. Furthermore, criminologists maintain that better policing and a declining population of young men are responsible for the falling crime rate, not mandatory sentences. Cloud is a staff writer for Time magazine.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. Why did Marc Klaas change his mind about the validity of three-strikes laws, according to Cloud?
2. Where did the funds for New York’s prison construction boom come from, in Cloud’s opinion?
3. Which states are beginning to change their laws concerning mandatory minimum sentences, as cited by the author"

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