Make 'Three Strikes,' 'Life' Mean Something
A group of
Albuquerque Republicans may finally get some truth in advertising when it
comes to cracking down on violent crime in New
Mexico.
And while some would call it a
lock-'em-up-and-throw-away-the-key approach, it's really a
lock-up-the-worst-of-the-worst approach.
Under a
bill proposed by Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, state Sen. John
Ryan and state Rep. Justine Fox-Young, the state's three-strikes law would
apply to all violent felonies— not just the harshest charges that often
don't withstand a plea bargain. And a life sentence would in fact mean
life, not 30 years, behind bars.
Certainly the
state's problem with prison crowding must be taken into account— but of
all the criminals who need to pay a debt to society and be kept away from
their next victims, violent felons and folks sentenced to life surely top
the list.
In conjunction with the GOP bill, the
state should re-examine probation under intense supervision, electronic
monitoring and other alternatives to incarceration for non-violent
criminals.
Ryan says the trio is "here to expand the strike zone." Their
proposal is a home run for law-abiding New Mexicans.
