Three strikes cheered

Re “Prisoners of panic,” Opinion, Jan. 6

Why does it not occur to writers such as this (who are often ivory-tower academics) that it is criminals themselves and their behavior that cause incarceration and swell the overcrowded populations of jails and prisons? Joe Domanick’s piece is just another of those “pity the poor criminal, victim of society” articles that were so popular in the 1970s. I thought we had gotten over such foolishness years ago.

If criminals (and their apologists in academia) don’t like incarceration, the obvious remedy is for them to stop committing crimes so academics can stop whining about the always awful sanctions that result.

Walter J. Kelly

Glendale

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The illustration by Matt Wuerker that accompanies Domanick’s article shows prisoners walking handcuffed into a prison. What it doesn’t show is when prisoners are eventually released back into society. What kind of individual is created while incarcerated? Would you want these people living next to you? These are issues that you don’t hear most “tough on crime” politicians or right-wing radio hosts talk about.

Quick-fix answers and the three-strikes law are not good for any of us in the long run. More prisons being built throughout the state is not an indication of success, it is an indication of a failed society. We can do better than that, and we deserve it. What we need instead is more funding for intervention and after-school programs for kids. The costs are just a fraction of that of incarceration.

It is time to do away with the three-strikes law and instead punish offenders for their crimes, not their misfortunes.

Armando Cepeda

Yorba Linda

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When is Domanick going to realize that most common folk want the three-strikes law, regardless of his whining about the horrible unfairness of it all? Those he cites as being victims of this so-called unfair three-strikes law (trying to steal a bottle of vitamins; buying a macadamia nut thought to be rock cocaine; shoplifting batteries valued at $2.69) were ex-cons.

Someone who finally made it out of prison should not do anything illegal. I for one don’t want an ex-con stealing anything. I don’t want an ex-con trying to buy rock cocaine.

Committing crimes after two felony convictions is just unacceptable. Domanick can wring his hands all he wants, but I support the three-strikes law as it was written and how it is enforced.

Dave Dolson

Valencia