On the tenth anniversary of the enactment of three strikes laws in the United States, OSI grantee Justice Policy Institute compares the crime and incarceration rates of states that have the strikes laws with those that do not. Among the findings are:

• Most states with three strikes laws rarely used them—the exception being California, which “struck-out” more offenders than the 20 other states with similar laws combined.
• The majority of people incarcerated under three strikes laws are non-violent offenders.
• States without three strikes laws actually saw greater decreases in violent crimes than those with three strikes laws.