What is the impact of the Three Strikes law on a defendant's recidivist history?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from The People v. Snyder, B217895, No. KA086768 (Cal. App. 2010):
While some of the offenses charged here are comparatively minor, defendant's recidivist history reflects precisely the type of "unrelenting record of recidivism" (People v. Gaston (1999) 74 Cal.App.4th 310, 320) at which the Three Strikes law is aimed. He has a more than two-decade history of criminal behavior. Interspersed with his residential burglary and strike felonies, defendant was also convicted of several drug related offenses and has admitted having a drug problem which he has been unable to overcome for decades and which will virtually insure a continuation of his criminal
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behavior if allowed into society again. His past offenses were persistent and recurrent. This repetitious criminal conduct demonstrates defendant's inability to change this pattern. (People v. Williams, supra, 17 Cal.4th at p. 163.) These facts amply justified the trial court's ruling.
The judgment is affirmed.
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