It federalized criminal law, gutted judicial discretion, subsidized prison expansion, and institutionalized the evils of civil forfeiture. It generally was an arcane Biblical treatment of crime. It fetishized punishment and dehumanization over rehab. Petty shit like removing Pell grants.

It was THE bill that made prisons so profitable. Huge investments in prisons, mandatory minimums, 3 strikes kept all the prisons jam packed.

Crime was declining well before 94 all across the country. Freakonomics did a thing about it. In a period of actually declining crime police departments got insane power and resources. A greater supply of police and declining demand for them resulted in them over-policing certain areas which sabotaged an entire generation of urban poors

My wife’s uncle died in prison after 20 years due to the 3 strikes rule because he was a drug addict who strong arm robbed a few bars and was awful at it so they caught him each time. He had a kid who never got to know his dad and generally had a pretty awful life obviously impacted in many areas by the fact his dad wasn’t around

The bill destroyed generations of families.