Obviously, as shown by the article in the OP, if the legal system is fubared then you can't fix it with something like three strikes. If the legal system is working well, you don't need something like three strikes. I'm not arguing for leniency. I believe punishments should fit the crime. I think the guy in the article sounds like a person who is dangerous to others and should be incarcerated for society's protection. I think people who steal a slice of pizza should have to pay for it, maybe with a significant penalty added in to make it a strong lesson. And he should obviously also have to pay for the court and cop time. And sure, maybe he only got caught the once, although he's a habitual pizza slice stealer. But we can't do anything about that. You can only punish for what is provable. Life's like that. I still think 3 strikes and zero tolerance are lazy shortcuts to keep from having to deal with life's ambiguities. It can be hard and time consuming to look at the details of each case. But that's part of the job. Maybe if so many victimless activities weren't illegal there'd be more time to properly deal with real crime.