Activists Seek to Limit Three-Strikes Law Sentencing

By age 12, Shane Reams regularly smoked marijuana. By high school, he was strung out on crack. Twice he burglarized neighbors’ homes to support his habit. And because his mother believed in tough love, she drove him to the police station to turn him in.

Sue Reams didn’t realize that she also was helping convict her son of the first two strikes that placed him behind bars for 25 years to life after the 28-year-old’s drug-related arrest last year.

“I never, ever, would have done what I did if I’d known it would lead to this,” said Reams, who supported the popular three-strikes law--until it ensnared her son.

Now, she helps lead a group of Orange County activists called Families to Amend Three Strikes, part of a cadre of Southern Californians seeking to limit the use of the 1994 law to cases involving violent and especially serious crimes.

The organization began last year as a support group mainly for grieving mothers and wives of men facing life in prison. It is now a growing political force within a similar statewide movement and boasts close ties to chapters in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose.

Reams and others concede that they have embraced an unsympathetic cause and face an uphill battle. But they say that the three-strikes law--which calls for a prison sentence of 25 years to life for defendants with three or more felony convictions--is overly harsh.

In Orange County, nonviolent drug offenses have accounted for roughly 70% of the estimated 600 third-strike convictions since the law’s passage, according to Public Defender Carl Holmes, who said there are similar statistics throughout Southern California.

The group’s immediate goal is to convince the Legislature to vote in favor of studying the costs of the three-strikes law--an analysis that members hope will jolt the public into recognizing that billions in tax dollars are being spent to keep drug addicts behind bars.

“We don’t put all the alcoholics in jail, so should we put all the drug offenders in jail for life?” asked Reams, who answered her own question by saying public funds would be better used to help drug users beat their addictions.

Many of the group’s members say they support tough punishment for violent offenders. And Reams does not dispute that her son should be in prison for his drug violations. But she said he never physically harmed anyone and does not deserve such a severe punishment.

Members say their biggest victory to date has been gaining the support of Rep. Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach).

Baugh emphasized that he supports the three-strikes law, but believes that it may need improvement. “It appears there have been some unjust applications of the law, and I don’t think we should be afraid to evaluate whether that indeed is true,” he said.

The Orange County branch works closely with the Los Angeles chapter, which says that having members from a conservative enclave like Orange County helps legitimize its cause.

After the South-Central group held a candlelight vigil, Orange County’s did too. South-Central members held a town hall meeting in February; Orange County members had one in May. Orange County residents have picketed along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Los Angeles; Los Angeles members have attended events in Orange County.

“There’s a tremendous appreciation in L.A. for Orange County,” said Geri Silva of the Los Angeles branch.

Members went to Sacramento recently to testify before the Assembly regarding the need for the fiscal study. It has taken unrelenting effort to push the request for an analysis to the Assembly floor.

But successes are measured in increments and activists see a long-term fight ahead. With a vote expected this week, a push is underway.

“We’ve moved all the people who are going to be moved by the emotional aspect of the issue. Now we need to move the economic conservatives,” said Orange County activist Tim Carpenter. “That’s the final frontier for us and it’s not going to be easy.”

Recent meetings with Orange County legislators have yielded mixed results.

Rep. Richard Ackerman (R-Fullerton) said he met with the group last week and came away unsure that a three-strikes study is needed. Ackerman said he did his own research and concluded that a study would be premature.

“Also, I know it’s expensive to lock people up for life, but it’s also expensive to have criminals victimizing society,” Ackerman said.

And although foes of the three-strike’s law say Reams’ story is a good example of why the law should be amended, proponents say it underscores why the law works.

Although arrested and jailed as a juvenile, Shane Reams continued his pattern of drug use and crime into adulthood. Imprisoning him may be expensive, but it keeps him off the street, say proponents of the three-strikes law.

“Once a person’s committed two serious or violent felonies, the emphasis should be on protecting society rather than worrying about helping the criminal,” said Orange County Assistant Dist. Atty. Brent Romney, director of Municipal Court operations. “Also, it’s not that hard to not commit a felony.”

One of the most persuasive critics of the three-strikes law is public defender Holmes, who is armed with statistics and stories of seemingly trivial offenses punished with life sentences.

“I think everyone who voted for the three-strikes law expected we were going after violent people who were hurting our children,” Holmes said. But most of the public defender’s cases are for drug possession, he said.

“We have people here convicted on three strikes for theft of doughnuts or beer,” Holmes said.

Romney agreed that programs to help drug addicts beat their addictions would be welcome. But until then, his job is to punish people who commit crimes.

“When people in our society can come up with some kind of a program to help these addicts overcome their addiction, our office will be one of the very first to support and endorse it,” he said. “‘Incarceration is not the best answer, but right now it’s the best answer to protect society.”