Zimring, an expert on criminal justice and family law, appeared on NPR on Tuesday, October 26, 2004, with host Renee Montagne to discuss the possible turnaround in voter sentiment. A decade after California voters overwhelmingly approved the three strikes law, polls show that nearly two-thirds of likely voters favor Proposition 66, which would amend the law to prohibit extended prison sentences for nonviolent crimes.
"It isn't that all of a sudden criminals are popular people," says Zimring. "This is still a get-tough state, but what's happened is the combination of other things to worry us and the declining crime rates [have] lowered the temperature of the crime issue."
Zimring is the author of Punishment and Democracy: Three Strikes and You're Out In California(with Hawkins and Kamin, 2001) and Crime and Punishment In California: The Impact Of Three Strikes And You're Out (with Kamin and Hawkins, 1999).
Listen to the complete interview with Zimring(3 minutes, 49 seconds) on the NPR website.
theorizes about apparent voter support for a November 2 ballot measure that would limit California 's current three strikes law.