“The study showed that more than 4,000 inmates in California are serving life sentences for nonviolent offenses under the three-strikes law. Although judges have sentencing discretion in a very narrow band of three-strikes cases, the reality is that judges almost universally consider themselves bound under California law to impose a life sentence for a third felony offense, no matter how minor. We also learned that the law is disproportionately applied to minorities, the mentally ill and the poor.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/opinion/three-strikes-of-injustice.html?_r=1
