Also, at the national level, the Three Strikes came around when most of America was in the middle of a lot of drug-related violence. So the Three Strikes rule,

Also, at the national level, the Three Strikes came around when most of America was in the middle of a lot of drug-related violence. So the Three Strikes rule, plus the War on Drugs, plus the Kingpin laws were used with extreme prejudice to try and curtail the panic. Granted, now we have the benefit of hindsight and statistics to see how effective those have been. Getting rid of several heads of crime rings? Exceptionally well. Just watch Gangsters: America's Most Evil from A&E. Every single person came from that era. How well has it worked on drugs in general or crime rates? That's much more debatable. EDIT: typo