I agree that we have incarcerated too many people for fairly petty crimes — particularly “victimless” crimes. That being said, someone who goes to jail for life because of a third strike is a person who was both **caught** and **convicted** on a felony charge for the third time. Chances are that this person has committed many other felonies for which he/she was not caught and/or convicted. It is highly unlikely that a person like this can rehabilitated, IMHO.

We have to weigh the rights of victims and potential victims against the rights of the very few criminals who *might* manage to be rehabilitated in some way. If they want to be rehabilitated, they should think about that after the first felony conviction. Sorry, but I will favor the victims every single time.