by Ethan Fletcher and Nick Turner

About the authors: Ethan Fletcher and Nick Turner are former interns at Dollars and Sense, a bimonthly magazine of left perspectives on current economic affairs.

Washington State’s Persistent Offender Accountability Act (Initiative 593) provided the country with its first look at the future of American criminal justice. Passed in November 1993 by 76% of the voters, the well-known “Three Strikes and You’re Out” provision mandates life imprisonment without parole for those convicted of a serious offense for the third time. Since then, California and New Mexico have passed similar ordinances, and 30 other states are considering Three Strikes legislation. The passage of Clinton’s anticrime bill [the 1994 Omnibus Crime Act] puts this policy in place for federal crimes.

Three Strikes Is a Popular Response to Crime