http://www.amend3strikes.org/problemsolution.htm
http://ceb.ucop.edu/newsletterv5/criminal_Law_1.htm
From that one
Quote:
California has over 7,000 inmates serving three-strike sentences. Nearly half of those are for offenses which are not "serious" or "violent." California is the only state which permits three strikes sentences for non-serious offenses. Nearly 1,000 inmates are serving life sentences for petty theft or minor drug offenses.

Quote:
Three Strikes and You?re Out" law. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the 5-4 majority in the two cases, upheld sentences of 25 years to life for the theft of three golf clubs and 50 years to life for the theft of nine video tapes from two K-Mart stores.

http://www.prisonactivist.org/pipermail/prisonact-list/2002-February/004639.html
Quote:
SAN FRANCISCO -- Nullifying part of
California's three strikes law, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that life in prison for shoplifting is cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling, issued by a three-judge panel of 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is expected to overturn 340 sentences for California defendants and spark appeals by inmates serving life for other nonviolent offenses.