Cruel Justice : Three Strikes and the Politics of Crime in America's Golden State / Joe Domanick; ed. by Joe Domanick.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Domanick, Joe, Author.

Contributor:

Domanick, Joe, Editor.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (343 p.) : 10 b/w photographs

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, CA : University of California Press, [2005]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

When the people of California overwhelmingly voted for the 1994 "three strikes" law, many had no idea what they were approving. The official ballot argument in favor of what Newsweek called "the toughest law in the nation" kept it simple: "Three strikes keeps career criminals who rape women, molest children and commit murder behind bars where they belong." What few people realized, however, was that the sweeping nature of the law would put thousands of nonviolent men and women in prison for twenty-five years to life, for crimes as minor as shoplifting $2.69 worth of AA batteries, forging a check for $94.94, or attempting to buy a macadamia nut disguised as a $5 rock of cocaine. In his riveting, well-documented book, Joe Domanick reveals the drama of the shattered lives involved with the law. Focusing on personal stories, Cruel Justice expands to tell the larger tale of how the law came into existence; how it has played out; what political, social, and economic forces lie behind it; and how the politics of crime and fear work in America. Domanick demonstrates how laws passed in haste, without deliberation, and in reaction to public hysteria can have unforeseen consequences as tragic as those they were designed to thwart. Domanick draws powerful portraits of the two innocent young girls-Kimber Reynolds and Polly Klaas-whose murders were the catalyst for the three strikes law; of the men who killed them; of the fathers who sought their revenge; and especially of the many people serving lengthy prison terms who are victims of the three strikes law itself.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Prologue

PART ONE. SENSELESS ACTS

1. Kimber Reynolds: Outside the Daily Planet

2. The Natural

3. Justice Seldom Seen in America

4. Mike Reynoldss World

PART TWO. THE STEAMROLLER

5. Mike Reynoldss Law

6. A Menace to Society

7. A Child of the 50s

8. Roots of the Backlash

9. The New Yellow Press

10. Tough Love: Sue Reams and Her Boy

11. Weird Ducks and Blind Fools

PART THREE. THE POSTER CHILD AND WILLIE HORTON

12. Right Out of Her Own Bedroom

13. Another Piercing Scream

14. Guns Dont Kill People

15. The Prince of J Street: Don Novey Comes On Board

16. Polly Klaas: Americas Child

17. Happily Shaking Fates Sorry Hand

18. Checking the Weather Vane

PART FOUR. ROCKS THE SIZE OF PEAS

19. Looking East, Looking West

20. Say Hello to Hitler, Dahmer, and Bundy

21. Pizza Face

22. Another Reynolds Bill: Ten, Twenty, Life

23. Jean Valjean Redux

PART FIVE. THE COUNTERREVOLUTION (SORT OF)

24. The More Committed Executioner

25. Lenny, Drug Court, and Three Strikes

26. The Modification

27. Shane and A. J.

28. A Taliban-Type Law

Epilogue

Notes

Selected Sources

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 01. Nov 2023)

ISBN:

9780520355200

OCLC:

1408682145