The law of unintended consequences, the unforeseen results of our decision-making is probably one of the first things Tampa defense attorneys explain to their clients.  One of the greatest unforeseen consequences was the favorable voting of the ‘Three Strikes Law’ several years back.  The Three Strikes Law is intended to have judges sentence habitual repeat offenders to mandatory prison terms.  The consequences, which are now showing up in prisons across the country, are that there are 155,000 or more prisoners in facilities designed for 100,000.

In these economic hard times, many communities are struggling with the thought of having to build more and more prisons to accommodate the ever-growing population of people who are being sentenced to incarceration because they have been caught more than two times doing something illegal, or that their crime did not justify jail time in the first place.

Many Tampa criminal lawyers understand the severity of a situation such as overcrowded prisons yet feel for the public who shout for justice and those who have committed a crime to be incarcerated no matter how minor the crime they have committed maybe.

Today, because of the recession, one of the largest crime waves sweeping across America is burglary and theft. When people do not have jobs or can no longer feed their families, a return to criminal activity overcomes those who had cleaned up their act.  This is not to say that everyone who’s lost a job or that the economy has hit hard is turning to a life of hardened criminals.  People who are going to steal are going to do it no matter what the state of the economy; however desperate times call for desperate measures in some people’s minds.

Unfortunately, another crime that is on the rise during an economic recession is drinking while driving, this according to a Tampa DUI attorney.  More and more people drown their sorrows in a tall glass of alcohol when they think there is no way out for their economic situation and then they get behind the wheel of their vehicle and try to drive home or to another bar for more drinks to continue to numb any feelings they may still have.