Topic: We should abolish the three-strikes laws
Three strikes laws misdiagnose the root problem in the criminal justice system by targeting people who have already committed crimes instead of working to keep people from committing them in the first place.
Three strikes laws often punish those who have been pushed into crime by their socioeconomic background, which is unjust.
Three strikes laws prevent judges from having flexibility that would allow them to assign rehabilitation programs that would be more effective than jail.
Three strikes laws prevent judicial discretion by preventing judges from considering mitigating/extenuating circumstances in sentencing, which unjustly punishes people who deserve lower sentences only because of the number of crimes they've committed.
Three strikes laws put people in jail for long periods despite committing only minor offenses.
Three strikes laws reduce the amount of felony arrests.
Three strikes laws reduce the power of judges and discretion in the court room, making judgments shallower.
Three strikes laws ruin young people's lives by preventing them from being accessing education and jobs that would pull them out of a life of crime by prolonging their time in jail during their formative years.
three -strikes laws take discretion away from judges.  a person committing a minor crime could be sentenced to life if he had a criminal history from long ago.  these laws backlog our courts, cram our prisons.
three strikes laws unfairly target non violent offenders when they get multiple drug charges
three-strike laws  do not act as a sufficient deterrent, people who commit crimes should be imprisoned earlier
three-strike laws are intolerant of special circumstances.
three-strike laws are more than fair and are necessary to get the point across those who are repeat offenders that the same crime cannot be repeated without additional consequences.
three-strike laws are too harsh when the felonies are for non violent crimes such as prostitution and tax fraud.
Three-strike laws disproportionately affect minorities in that they target low-impact street crime as opposed to high-impact white collar crimes.
three-strike laws ensure that serious repeat offenders are dealt with as strongly as possible to ensure the safety of the public and punish their crimes accordingly.
three-strike laws give a clear message to offenders who may be in danger of re-offending, that doing so would be met with more severity than their first offense. that way it works as a clear deterent.
three-strike laws inhibit the possibility of rehabilitation by giving increasingly severe sentences, until life is the final option.
three-strike laws keep repeat offenders from being let out after a very short prison term.  it will prevent many serious crimes.
Three-strike laws lead to expensive trials. Three-strike offenders will demand a court trial rather than accept a plea bargain (which costs a fraction of the price of a full-blown trial).
three-strike laws minimize the prison population and are beneficial