The Nation's Harshest Sentencing Policing

California passed the nations harshes sentencing policy in 1994 in the response to a brutal murder of a young girl by a repeat offender.  There are around 8000 inmates in California that received the third strike and most of them are for non-violent crimes.  When the prison population is as high as it is, reform must be taken to keep non-violent third strikers out of prison.