There were three news pieces last week on the California three-strikes law.
The San Francisco Chronicle's "Rethinking California's three-strikes law," SF Gate, 7/3/11, highlights the case of Shane Taylor--a 42-year old man who has already served 15 years on a 25-years to life sentence for possessing a small bag of methamphetamine--a sentence the prosecutor and sentencing judge now agree is too harsh. The San Jose Mercury News, 7/1/11 notes that cases like recently-released Kelly Turner, who had been serving a 3-strikes sentence for writing a bad check for $146, might garner attention in upcoming battles to reform California's three-strikes law. And, the Sacramento Bee, 7/4/11's article "California three-strike sentences used less often 15 years later" suggests that prosecutors have begun to internally reform the harshest aspects of the law by seeking the maximum penalty less often.