Rally Calls Foul on ‘Three Strikes’

Barbara Brooks is a Republican Christian, a self-described right-winger. But she wants her fellow Southland residents to know the state three-strikes law can have devastating effects on any family.

On Feb. 5, Brooks said, her son was sentenced to 25 years to life for “felony evasion” when he ran from police officers while under the influence of methamphetamine.

“He panicked and ran,” she said. “Now he’ll be in prison with murderers and rapists for 25 years. I’ll be dead before he gets out . . . but I’ll go down fighting this law.”

Brooks’ son had been arrested twice before in the 1980s and was on parole.

On Sunday night, Brooks, 61, of Fullerton, and about 50 other stalwart demonstrators braved a cold evening to ring downtown Orange’s circle with fluttering candles and placards protesting California’s three-strikes law on its fifth anniversary and lobbying for a Senate bill that would amend it to cover only violent criminals.

Mothers of prisoners, members of the Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes Group, and representatives of the Green and Libertarian parties all greeted passing motorists with shouts and cheers.

Orange County Superior Court Judge James P. Gray also was on hand. Gray, who has voluntarily removed himself from criminal cases for the last seven years, is a former prosecutor who now feels punitive state and national sentencing laws are emblematic of failed drug control policies.

“We have to bring some reason to the debate, not just emotion,” Gray said. “Every time a congressman’s child gets caught with drugs, they want treatment for him. Every time someone else’s child gets caught, they want prison for them.”

Orange County, Los Angeles and San Diego prosecutors and judges apply the three-strikes law with far greater frequency than other areas of the state, studies have shown. One study released last week showed no greater decrease in crime in areas that applied the law aggressively. San Francisco, which uses the law most sparingly, actually saw a greater decline in violent crimes than the southern counties.

Gregory Overton, 22, of Orange said he was demonstrating not because of a particular relative or friend but because he believes the law, in addition to being “poor social policy,” is a waste of taxpayers’ money.

“It’s a law that supports big corporations--the prison industry is one of the fastest-growing industries out there. They want to add more prisons, so they need to keep adding prisoners.”