Bill Clinton: “Well, I hope only a small number of people. Let me answer your question in this way: First of all, a small percentage of…”

“Well, I hope only a small number of people. Let me answer your question in this way: First of all, a small percentage of the criminal population--of the criminal population--commits a large percentage of the truly violent crimes. A lot of those folks, they're ``one strike and you're out.'' You commit murder or rape or something else, you get a life sentence. The ``three strikes and you're out'' bill is designed to deny parole to people who commit three violent crimes in a row where, by accident, the consequence was not as serious as it might have been. That is, no one died or the building didn't burn down or whatever, so the victims weren't hurt as badly. But this is a person who is plainly prone to do things that will cause life or serious bodily harm. So it will cover-- the reason that I recommend coverage--it doesn't cover drug offenders, for example. It covers people who do things that are designed to hurt people repeatedly, and they're just lucky that nobody has died, so they haven't gotten a life sentence. But if they do it three times, they still have to serve unless they are specifically commuted; they're not eligible for parole. Ms. Soren. So does that mean it ends up affecting about 200 to 300 people a year?”