Progressive comedians have suggested an amendment to the
Three Strikes You're Out law, known in
Florida as
10-20-Life:
Four balls and you walk. If you are stopped for driving while black four times, the police can never stop you again.
Jesse Jackson picked up this theme in an address to United We Stand:
Hospitals are closing. Families are disintegrating. To that we have a quick answer: Three strikes and you're out, rather than four balls and you're on. If the crime is vicious enough, if the person is sick enough, one strike is enough. For Susan Smith, one strike is enough. For those who bombed the building in Oklahoma, that's enough. For those who bombed the building in New York, one strike is enough. Judges already have that power.
But the vision of our country really must be four balls and you're on. It must not just be about lock-up, but lift-up. Pre-natal care and Head Start, ball one; an adequately funded public education, ball two; remarkable skill and access to college, ball three; and a job, ball four. Let's put America back to work and lift our children up, not just lock them up.
SOURCE: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/8569/jackson.html