Families to Amend California's Three Strikes Law (FACTS)

This show comes from a march and rally held by Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes law (FACTS). FACTS was founded by family members of people who have been convicted under California’s harsh three strikes law. Most of them are poor, people of color, and many are being punished far out of proportion to their crimes, often petty theft or nonviolent drug and burglary offenses. As you’ll hear in this show, aggressive district attorneys are turning misdemeanors into felonies in order to strike out more people. They’re using ten, twenty and thirty year old felony convictions to put more people behind bars for 25 to life, 27 to life, 50 to life. Today in California, many murderers are eligible for parole and get out of prison sooner than three strikers convicted of possession of less than worth of a controlled substance. And Governor Gray Davis’s no-parole policy is keeping people behind bars far longer than they deserve. Many people argue this law is unconstitutional, that it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, and that it is a violation of human rights.

The Supreme Court is currently considering a challenge to California's cruel and unusual three strikes law, and a decision is expected in November.

For lots more information, visit http://www.facts1.com.