Because many non-violent offenders are serving their sentences, prisons are overcrowded. Violent criminals are being released on probation or parole to make room for the three-strike offenders. The California Department of Corrections reports that 160,000 inmates in custody are in a system that is designed to hold only 80,000. By April 2002, the CDC reports, there will be no more space to hold new arrivals . .
Many citizens supporting the Three Strikes Law believe that since the law has been enforced and the crime rate declined in California. California voters labor under the view that Three Strikes is responsible for the downturn. Prominent politicians have worked hard to uphold that belief, despite increasing empirical evidence that contradicts the law. In 1998, former Attorney General Dan Lungren had his office prepare a report on the Three Strikes Law. The report concluded that since the passage of 3 Strikes Law, the violent crime in California has dropped 26.9% with a 30.8% drop in the six major crime categories." Also, Politicians like Pete Wilson argued that Three Strikes would save taxpayers money because the savings in reduced crime would exceed the cost of prison construction and maintenance . As the result, politicians like Governor of California, Gray Davis, believe the law works and has vowed to veto any attempt to change it . Most supporters of the Three Strikes law believe the measure is the tough medicine our state needs to protect itself from career criminals and the solution to the crime epidemic .
Instead of resulting from Three Strikes Law, the study found the lowered crime rates were consistent with numerous variables, like economic prosperity that led to more economic opportunity for low-skilled workers, the decline in the crack cocaine epidemic that had caused sharp increases in crime in the 1990's, like better policing strategies including enforcement of anti-loitering and graffiti laws that resulted in removing hand guns from youthful offenders, and improved cooperation between communities and the police.