‘Three Strikes’

Three hoorays for “three strikes”! Charles Ernest Bentley has inflicted enough misery upon people (“50-Cent Caper Could Be Ex-Convict’s Last Strike,” March 10). As the victim of Bentley’s alleged crime was a 60-year-old homeless man, this case demonstrates how three strikes will protect the people who are wounded by crime the most--the poor. Bentley’s 52-page rap sheet, including manslaughter and kidnaping, shows he is one of the degenerates who are responsible for a large percentage of crimes, making the expense of his incarceration cost-effective relative to the cost of the crimes he would continue to inflict upon people if he is returned to the streets.

The Times should publish an article detailing Bentley’s 52-page rap sheet.

JERRY DAMPF

Long Beach

On March 8 I read that the three strikes bill passed with enthusiasm. A few pages over, I read that our “state is abandoning its children.” Doesn’t anyone understand that poverty and crime have one long arm? That to warehouse a human being without any attempt at rehabilitation or treatment is in itself a crime of great magnitude? What is going on in this society?

GAIL MOORE

Van Nuys