Assessing Public Support for Three-Strikes-and-You're-Out Laws: Global versus Specific Attitudes

Abstract

In the recent movement to pass “three-strikes-and-you're-out” laws, policymakers often cite opinion polls that ostensibly show widespread public support for these initiatives. Our community survey, however, reveals that support for three-strikes laws is high when citizens are asked broad single-item questions, but diminishes greatly when citizens are presented with specific situations covered under the law. Further, the public appears willing to make exceptions to three-strikes laws. Taken together, these findings suggest that citizens would endorse three-strikes policies that focus on only the most serious offenders and that allow for flexible application.