"I'll give you three more chances!"

Liberals should probably be thankful that a cricket metaphor hasn't been imported for the "three strikes" sentencing regime introduced by the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill but that's about all they'll enjoy. While it bypasses some of the absurd consequences that have been seen in California because of the broad range of qualifying offences employed in that state (inmates doing 31 years for stealing a pair of AA batteries etc), it's basic lack of efficiency will end up costing us all.

It's aimed at deterring recidivist violent offenders; protecting the public from violent people and giving the public and victims of crime more confidence in the legal system. Deterrence is the kind of concept that might be effective in preventing crime if all offending was contemplated prior to the event in a sober, rational manner using white boards and spreadsheets. Of course it isn't and this is acknowledged in the Bill's Explanatory Note where it is said "There is a great deal of evidence indicating that offending rates decrease only marginally as a result of penalties being increased. A study on the wide-sweeping Californian three-strike laws did find a statistically significant deterrent effect, but the high cost of that deterrent effect needs to be weighed against the finding that almost all crime was committed by offenders who had not received strikes." Undoubtedly there are a relatively small number of individuals who are so committed to violence as a response that prison has a function in keeping them away from the rest of us. But these people do not necessarily have the kinds of criminal histories that trigger the legislation and, conversely, people netted by the three strikes may not be dangerous enough to subject to the startling punishment of life without parole. Of course, the Bill isn't there to impress liberals but it isn't clear that it will do anything for the public or victims of crime either. Some victims of crime have such a need for retribution that extended time in prison falls short of the more medieval punishment they have in mind and the rest of us may not want to continue to pay for a growing prison system that warehouses people without treating them, exposes them to the kind of brutality that may have contributed to their own make-up and does nothing to combat crime figures.