Cooley proposes a more modest rollback of the three-strikes law
From the LA Voice:
This is a good thing. As a favorable editorial in the SanFran Chronicle points out, the new measure (fresh from a hammer-and-tongs drafting session over New Year's weekend) could help prevent Gov. Schwarzenegger from barging ahead with a $200-billion prison-building spree that we just cannot afford.
Cooley and Dunn's plan would stick with the spirit of the original Three Strikes measure by putting repeat rapists, robbers and other hardened felons away for hard time.
But the two-time losers deserve some mercy - not life in the graybar hotel - when they get nailed for minor crimes. Better to spend the prison-construction funds on addiction counseling, work training and other social programs that could bootstrap them off the prison rolls than to lock them away forever at exorbitant expense.