Three Strikes and the Eighth Amendment.

From 1993-1995, 24 states enacted ‘Three-Strikes-And-You’re-Out’ sentencing laws designed to incapacitate and deter recidivist offenders. California’s three strikes law is unique in that it (1) allows petty crimes to qualify as the triggering ‘third strike’ and (2) is difficult to amend because it was enacted through the state’s powerful initiative process–a process that restricts legislative amendments to voter-approved measures. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Eighth Amendment challenges to California three strikes sentences in Lockyer v. Andrade and Ewing v. California. This paper briefly reviews those cases and explores the problem of checking potential excesses of California’s three strikes scheme in the absence of Eighth Amendment constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]