> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Three strikes law focus of discussion By Daily Press staff
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/three-strikes-law-focus-of-discussion-by-daily-press-staff/
- Published: 2004-10-07T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:16:01.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Pico, #archive-import

That’s the topic of “Cruel Justice: Three Strikes and the Politics of Crime in America’s Golden State,” a free lecture that will be given at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8 at Santa Monica College.

Joe Domanick — award-winning journalist and senior fellow at the USC Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism — will give the talk in room 214 of the SMC Art Complex, 1900 Pico Blvd. Seating is limited and is on a first-arrival basis. Parking is free.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the SMC Associates, a private organization that funds speakers and special programs on campus, as well as the University of California Press Associates, which provides support to the prestigious University of California Press.

The lecture’s title comes from Domanick’s book of the same name that was recently published by UC Press.

In his book, Domanick reveals that California’s “three strikes” law has put thousands of nonviolent men and women in prison for 25 years to life, for crimes as minor as shoplifting $2.69 worth of batteries, or forging a check for $94.94\. Domanick argues that laws passed in haste, without deliberation and in reaction to public hysteria, can have unforeseen consequences as tragic as those they were designed to thwart.

For information, call (310) 434-4303.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 7, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/100704.pdf?ref=smdp.com)