Curb Proposes Life Terms for Burglars : ‘Three Strikes and You’re Out’ Would Apply to Serious Crimes

Republican Mike Curb, escalating the tough-on-crime rhetoric in his campaign to unseat Democratic Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, on Wednesday called for life in prison without the possibility of parole for anyone convicted three times of burglary or other serious crimes.

Curb, a millionaire record producer, made the proposal after complaining that his Beverly Hills home had been broken into twice by burglars, once in June when he was home with his family.

“Doggone it, it should be three strikes and you’re out. They (habitual offenders) should be there for life,” Curb said, explaining his proposal for dealing with three-time losers to a sparsely attended Los Angeles luncheon meeting of Town Hall, a public policy forum.

The position goes well beyond anything being proposed by Gov. George Deukmejian, a noted hard-liner on the need for tougher criminal penalties who is running at the top of the Republican ticket.

Curb, who lets Deukmejian take the lead on most issues, told reporters after the speech: “I feel very strongly. I’ve had my own home burglarized. I’m tired of it. It’s the second time. Something has to be done.”

‘Removed From Society’

Explaining his proposal, Curb said: “Once an individual has committed three felonies, I feel they should be permanently removed from society by virtue of life in prison. I do not think that it serves any purpose, given the high recidivism rate, to put them back in society,” he explained to reporters later.

“Once a person has been convicted of three residential burglaries, why put them back out to commit a fourth? I think they should be in prison for the rest of their lives. It doesn’t make any sense to put them back because they commit 30 or 40 for every one they are caught.”

The hard-line stance comes at a time when Curb’s Democratic opponent is using radio and television ads with a tough-on-crime slant to focus attention on support McCarthy’s campaign is receiving from law enforcement groups. Among them are the California Peace Officers Assn. and the Los Angeles Police Protective League.

A radio ad talks about “tough laws” McCarthy helped pass when he served as Speaker of the state Assembly in the late 1970s, and the television spot, which uses a helicopter and gunshots to produce dramatic effects, refers to the Democrat as someone who has “hung tough” with police officers “when it counted.”

No Response

A spokesman for the McCarthy campaign said the lieutenant governor put the ads on earlier than he had planned in part because of Curb’s attempt to portray the Democrat as soft on crime.

The McCarthy campaign had no immediate response to Curb’s life-without-parole proposal.

A local law enforcement authority, who requested anonymity because he did not want his office thrust into the McCarthy-Curb political race, said the proposal would go beyond current law.

“I don’t think anyone who commits three burglaries is going to get anything like life, but if you are talking about crimes like murder and rape we are close to it already,” he said.

Curb, who served as lieutenant governor under ex-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. from 1978 to 1982, described the burglary at his home to the Town Hall audience as “a terrible experience.”

Even though the burglars were not seen, his family was badly frightened, he said. He said his two young daughters “are still afraid of sleeping in their own beds.”