"Three strikes and you're out!" you think you'd hear that phrase during a baseball game when a player gets knocked out, but the phrase has been used as a metaphor for California's three-strikes law. It is a law that condemns repeat offenders of serious or violent crimes. twenty-five years to life Although it seems desirable to put repeat offenders in prison, they are also convicted of minor crimes. Sentences an offender, whose first crime was a serious or violent crime, to serve a double sentence even if the second crime is serious or violent. The most controversial part of this law is that the third offense can be any crime, even a misdemeanor, that can “erase” a repeat offender because of his past crimes, even if he has paid his debt to society. their past crimes. California must give just and fair punishment, and should hand out sentences based on someone's current crime and not what they have done in the past. The three strikes law does not follow the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. This law was made with great intentions, but it is affecting some people in a negative way. The law was established in 1994, and since then people have been affected by it or seen many of its flaws. Many problems have arisen related to overcrowding, excessive spending, and the disproportionate amount of minorities who have been locked up due to this law. Some of the problems have led many to believe that he is dispensing unjust justice. According to Chauncey Bailey, these concerns led to Proposition 66 in 2004 which would weaken the three strikes law. The proposal was rejected due to public voting. Many have been led to believe that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger... halfway through the document... of California's three strikes law." Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice 6.2 (2008): 83-102. Print. Ehlers, Scott , Vincent Schiraldi and Eric Lotke. "Racial Divide: An Examination of the Impact of California's Three-Strikes Law on African Americans and Latinos." Web. July 13, 2011.Schafer, John R. "The Deterrent Effect of the Law on three strikes." FBI Law EnforcementBulletin 68.4 (1999): 6. Academic Search Premier, and Eric Lotke. "An Impact on the Review of 3 Strikes Laws 10 Years After Enactment." Justice Policy Institute, September 10, 2004 Web, July 15, 2011. Stolzenberg, Lisa and Stewart J. D'Alessio Three Strikes and You're Out': The California Impact." Crime & Delinquency 43.4 (1997): 457. Print.