3-Strikes Law

Re “Dumb Kid, Petty Crimes: a Life Term?” Commentary, July 24: People like Joe Domanick are dangerous to the public safety because they just don’t get it. Domanick does not seem to understand that the main purpose of the so-called “three strikes” law is to keep habitual criminals off the streets. The operative word here is “habitual.” If one has proved that he cannot or will not live by society’s rules, what else can reasonably be expected but to ostracize him from society?

The example Domanick chose, Andre Wilks, was arrested for petty thefts at ages 9 and 13 and at 16 pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery. His third strike was a car breaking and entry with a theft of a cell phone. Society is better off without Wilks terrorizing innocent citizens on the streets. Domanick wrote that Wilks “is now in prison for the rest of his life for breaking a car window and stealing a cell phone.” Domanick does not get it. Wilks is in prison for a history of crimes and clear indication that that pattern will continue if not forcibly stopped.

BRUCE L. SCOTT

Fountain Valley