Seventy percent of the second strike cases (which double the usual sentence) and third strike cases (which mandate a 25-to-life term) involved current convictions for felonies that were neither serious nor violent. The report said the most common were petty theft - a felony when the defendant has a prior petty theft conviction.
The prospect of long sentences is prompting many defendants to go to trial instead of pleading guilty. The report quoted prosecutors as forecasting a 144 percent increase this year in jury trials in Los Angeles County, nearly 200 percent in Santa Clara County and 300 percent in San Diego county.
In L.A., half of the 120 Superior Court judges hearing civil suits were expected to be transferred to criminal cases by early 1995.
Jail overcrowding has been worsened by an influx of three strikes defendants. Although the state has scaled down its previous forecasts of prison growth, the report says 15 new prisons would be needed within five years, at a cost of $4.5 billion.
(from Criminal Justice Consortium Up-date)