CRJ405 Advanced Seminar in Criminal Justice Research: Topic Introduction Unit 2: How Has the Three Strikes Law and Moratorium of the Death Penalty Affected California’s Prisons? September 2025 POST University

 CRJ405 Advanced Seminar in Criminal Justice Research  

Topic Introduction Unit 2: 

How Has the Three Strikes Law and Moratorium of the Death Penalty Affected California’s Prisons? 

 

 

Jackie Phillips 

 

Criminology Department, Post University 

Dr. Lyndon Godsall  

 

Due: Midnight Sunday of Unit 2 

 

CRJ405 Advanced Seminar in Criminal Justice Research Topic Introduction: Unit 2 

This is the first section of your Final Project. Please write the introduction portion of your final research project, proposing a non-experimental research topic rooted in a law enforcement issue. 

This paper should include the following topics: 

Identify an agency or organization, where you would like to implement a law enforcement initiative with an organization in the private or public sector organization such as a police department, an educational/civic – police partnership, state or federal agency.  

 

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) runs the state's prisons and parole systems in California. The CDCR oversees both the operation of the adult state prisons and the care of the state's incarcerated population, while also being responsible for rehabilitative programs and parole supervision to help offenders reintegrate into society. 

The prison population continues to grow and expand due to the passage of the Three Strikes law passed in 1994. In addition, in 2019, there was a moratorium on the Death Penalty by Governor Newson as a means of punishment. 

Is the Corrections Department being properly run and expanded and funded to properly handle the expanded populations due to these two issues?  

Provide a description of this organization (size, demographics, jurisdiction, purpose) 

 

Manages Prisons:. 

The CDCR owns and operates 34 adult state prisons and a variety of other correctional facilities.  

Handles Parole:. 

The department also supervises adult offenders released to parole.  

Focuses on Rehabilitation:. 

A key component of the CDCR's mission is to provide rehabilitative services, such as job training and education, to prepare incarcerated individuals for successful reentry into the community.  

Enhances Public Safety:. 

The CDCR aims to improve public safety through secure incarceration and effective parole supervision. 

 

 The need for this initiative. 

Key Funding Aspects 

General Fund: 

The vast majority of the CDCR budget comes from the General Fund, which is California's main source of revenue.  

Funding Categories: 

The budget covers various expenditures, including: 

Operations: Salaries, benefits, and support services for correctional facilities.  

Health Services: Medical, dental, and mental health care for incarcerated individuals. 

 

2025-26 Proposed Budget 

“It’s propelled by lucrative employee compensation deals and costly mandates to improve health care behind bars, according to fiscal analyses by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. Newsom’s most recent budget proposal includes $18.1 billion for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, up from $15.7 billion when he took office in 2019.” (Hwang, K. and Duara, N, 2024) 

 

“The average cost per person for medical care has more than doubled in the past 10 years, and total health care spending by the corrections department has increased by about 67 percent. Although the recent prison closures have cut about 2,700 correctional positions, medical spending has eaten up those savings.” (Hwang, K. and Duara, N, 2024) 

 

 Define the stakeholders of the initiative, including the target audience. 

Per this chart the population of the prisons have decreased, but the expenses have increased due to increased pay for employees and medical staff.  

“Former Assembly Budget Chair Phil Ting, a Democrat from San Francisco, said corrections is the only state program where having fewer people translates into more spending. In 2022 Ting proposed closing three more prisons to bring down fixed costs and account for the shrinking number of prisoners.” (Hwang, K. and Duara, N, 2024) 

References  

Hwang, K. and Duara, N, 2024, Governing.com, California’s Spending Per Inmate Hits a New Record, https://www.governing.com/finance/californias-spending-per-inmate-hits-a-new-record 

 

CRJ405 Advanced Seminar in Criminal Justice Literature Review, Unit 6 Synthesize and Evaluate, September 2025, POST University

 CRJ405 Advanced Seminar in Criminal Justice Literature Review, Unit 6 Synthesize and Evaluate 

Jackie Phillips 

Criminology: Post University 

Dr. Lyndon Godsall 

Due: 11:59 pm Sunday of Unit 6 

 

A Literature Review is an integral part of your final project. You will be using the four (4) peer review articles that you researched and summarized for Unit 4 plus additional resources as needed. Write a literature review highlighting the important trends, thresholds (tolerances), and research appropriate for your initiative. Collect data and provide a descriptive analysis of that data, which supports the need for the initiative. This literature review should include: 

 

1 to 2 paragraphs overview of your topic: 

 

My topic is: 

How has the passage of the Three Strikes Law in 1994, the moratorium of the Death Penalty in 2019 and the Conversion of California prisons into Rehabilitation Centers in 2005 changed prisons in California? How have the Corrections and Rehabilitation budgets changed in 20 Years to adjust to all these changes?   

Introduction: 

Though it appears on the outside that each topic is individual, when you step back and view the whole prison system history in California, which does include the infamous Alcatraz, going back to Spanish time of 1775, it is quite unique that all these changes are all occurring in under a 20-year timeframe. The primary changes California’s prisons have had in their history, up until recently, is that more and more and more prisons were built to accommodate the growing population. More prisons were built in remote and distant locations because all the locations in the urban areas were already full.  

 

On the outside I am happy to see these changes, but I am worried that it is too much too fast, and I am concerned that certain groups of people in the state won’t be open to the change. For my third question, I think that in order for these changes to be most effective, they have to be properly paid for and budgeted, which I think is probably going to be the biggest and most difficult step along the way. I do think that starting these steps is the best, and I hope that all the changes that will occur will be properly supported and acknowledged.  

 

 

In one to two paragraphs explain how each article is similar to and how each varies from the other articles. 

 

The articles and the focus of the state seem to shift between the needs of the prisoners and the needs of the buildings and the needs of the state budgets, all of which are affected by all these changes.  

 

 

The first article: 

Three Strikes Turns 30 in California and stories from prisoners:  

Sawyer, K., 2023, Prison Journalism Project, Stories of Freedom and Denial as Three Strikes Turns 30 in California 

This article has stories from inmates and how their lives are affected by the Three Strikes Law.  

 

At the same time, the third article: 

How has the Moratorium of the Death Penalty in California affected the prisons?  

Kendrick, P. 2024, Corrections 1, California County Opposes the Transfer of San Quentin Death Row Inmates, 

 

This article also focuses on what will happen to the death penalty inmates when they are transferred out of San Quentin after the prison was turned into a rehabilitation center.  

 

The second and fourth articles: 

They only focus on what will happen to the buildings and the extended and altered budget with all the changes.  

San Quentin prison transforms into rehabilitation center after Moratorium on Death Penalty  

Halpert, M, 2024, BBC, San Quentin begins prison reform - but not for those on death row 

How have the Corrections and Rehabilitation budgets changed in 20 Years to adjust to all these changes?  

O’Neil, Caitlin, 2020, Legislative Analyst Office, State Correctional Spending Increased Despite Significant Population Reductions, 

 

 

Your conclusion should discuss how as a whole your research supports your proposal and the topic as a whole. 

 

The research I have found on this topic is ongoing and constantly changing since I have also seen articles that the Moratorium on the Death Penalty is a personal choice of Governor Newsom, and when he leaves office after this second term, people have discussed removing the moratorium.  

 

Also, the rehabilitation of San Quentin is apparently running into the billions of dollars, way beyond the initial projections. There may be changes there, and then that will affect the fourth topic of how the budget of prisons is being affected by all these changes.  

 

Some of these changes may be brought to voters to make decisions and there is also the chance of other changes when Governor Newsom, a fourth generation San Franciscan, leaves office after his second term in 2026.  

 

Resources: 

  

Halpert, M, 2024, BBC, San Quentin begins prison reform - but not for those on death row, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68558967  

  

Kendrick, P. 2024, Corrections 1, California County Opposes the Transfer of San Quentin Death Row Inmates, https://www.corrections1.com/jail-management/calif-county-opposes-transfer-of-san-quentin-death-row-inmates  

  

O’Neil, Caitlin, 2020, Legislative Analyst Office, State Correctional Spending Increased Despite Significant Population Reductions, https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4145#:~:text=44%20percent).-,Despite%20Population%20Reduction%2C%20CDCR%20Spending%20Increased,of%20more%20than%20one%20factor.  

Sawyer, K., 2023, Prison Journalism Project, Stories of Freedom and Denial as Three Strikes Turns 30 in California, https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2023/08/16/three-strikes-law-approaches-30th-anniversary/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20080253884&gbraid=0AAAAAo-SeB4OlcDSZy_BTD3kYb9HixCTN&gclid=Cj0KCQjwoP_FBhDFARIsANPG24NehnRgQUrNnDOd6BLLjkToBVlOQGnAVDhyHHQcwyj3e6tbMfs3PF0aApqtEALw_wcB  

Zhu, Y., 2024, Beyond the Bars: A Transformative Prison Environment for Sociopathic Inmates, https://issuu.com/yuying.zhu/docs/final_thesis_book_yuying_zhu_issuu