Three Strikes five years on

On 1 June the “three strikes” law had its fifth anniversary. Contrary to lofty predictions from the “experts” the prisons are not overflowing – the prison muster is about the same as five years ago – there have been no shootouts with desperate second strikers anxious to avoid a third, and no poor innocents have been locked up for petty theft.

“Three strikes is working exactly as intended and as we knew it would” said Sensible Sentencing Three Strikes (3S) spokesman David Garrett, who was responsible for driving the law through parliament five years ago.

“ After five years there are 5400 first strikers but only 76 second strikers. “These figures clearly indicate that 3S is acting as the deterrent we hoped it would be. Strike offenders are getting the clear message one way or another that continuing to offend in this way will result in very lengthy periods in jail – and they are deciding not to reoffend. This was also the pattern in the early days of 3S in California, which inspired our law, and upon which ours is loosely based” said Garrett.

“One of the many differences between our law and California’s is the requirement for Judges to warn strike offenders of the very serious consequences of reoffending. We wished to avoid the undoubted injustices which occurred in California in the early days, and the requirement for a judicial warning is helping the law to work well” said Garrett.

“All of the 76 second strikers are by definition violent and dangerous men. One of them – a scumbag who likes to sexually assault old ladies in their own homes – recently received the highest second strike offence yet handed down, 12 years nine months. Because of 3S this offender will spend all of that time in jail rather than being back on the street on parole in five or six years, as would have been the case before 3S became the law” said Garrett. “Old ladies enjoying the sunset of their lives are safe from him for almost thirteen years, and that makes me very happy”.

“The best the media have been able to come up with to illustrate the supposed injustice of the law is one Elijah Whaanga, a vicious aggravated robber with a string of violent convictions – including a home invasion – to his name. Whaanga’s first strike offence – a street aggravated robbery – resulted in the victim having his teeth kicked in and all his money stolen. His second strike offence was similar, but on that occasion the victim had no money on him, so Whaanga was only able to steal a skateboard and a hat” Garrett said.

“The media have seized on the skateboard theft, calling Whaanga a ‘playground bully’, and highlighting the fact that if he commits another armed robbery he will face 14 years in jail without parole. This paints a totally false picture in many respects” said Garrett.

“Firstly Whaanga is no schoolboy – he is in his twenties – and none of his offences occurred in a playground. He is a vicious armed robber who accosts people in the street, beats them up, and robs them of whatever they have on them. Secondly ‘poor Elijah’, as some media have called him, can avoid going to jail for any period – let alone 14 years – simply by not bashing and robbing anyone else. It’s quite simple” Garrett says.

“I am deeply grateful to John Key for sticking to his word and supporting 3S into law after he was persuaded by the evidence that it was an idea which would make New Zealand safer, and put evil mongrels where they belong if they cannot or will not reform” said Garrett. “I am convinced New Zealand is a safer place because of 3S, and as the law continues to bite, it will get even safer”.
ENDS

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