[thoughtomator]

In a Constitutional republic, legislatures are constrained by rights they must respect, in this case prohibitions against ex post facto laws, double jeopardy, and excessive punishment, and so on. A legislature cannot pass any law at all and expect it to stand. Because these 3-strikes laws must inevitably breach the 8th Amendment (or the 14th), they won't remain on the books for long.

The legislatures have a responsibility to make sure crimes are punished; they have failed to do so, in permitting inadequate sentencing for crimes; in frustration the people have supported 3-strikes. While I totally agree with the frustration, it is necessary to make laws in accordance with our Constitution regardless of popular passions; that is what distinguishes a republican people from a democratic mob. If the legislatures did their job and crafted laws which properly punished crime, 3-strikes would be moot because practically everyone who qualified would be serving the time they should have been serving in the first place.

[BJungNan]

Excellent post. An example of why FR is so valuable a forum. You will never get such a correct and to the point explanation on the nightly news or in many other media outlets as you have offered.

[lugsoul]

That's a hellaciously cogent argument.

[Logophile]

Because these 3-strikes laws must inevitably breach the 8th Amendment (or the 14th), they won't remain on the books for long.

Please explain why you believe that three-strikes laws "inevitably" breach the Eighth or Fourteenth Amendments.