Soros backs weakening three-strikes law

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Financier George Soros has thrown his support to an effort to amend California's three-strikes law, the San Diego Union-Tribune said Tuesday.

Soros, Progressive Insurance company founder Peter Lewis and University of Phoenix founder John Sperling each contributed $150,000 to a campaign supporting a November ballot measure amending the California law to apply only to those who commit violent or serious crimes.

The law, which originally passed as a ballot initiative, currently allows for a non-violent felony to trigger the mandatory 25-years-to-life prison sentence for a third offense.

The Soros-backed measure reduces the number of crimes that count as strikes and could, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst said, save the state millions of dollars in prison costs because there would be fewer criminals behind bars.

Opponents of the measure say the contributions only help make the case that wealthy out-of-state donors are trying to dismantle California's criminal justice laws.