Proposition 36, also titled A Change in the "Three Strikes Law” Initiative, was a California ballot measure that modified California’s Three Strikes Law in November 2012. This law punishes habitual offenders by establishing sentence escalation for felonies that were classified as “strikes”, and a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 to life for a third strike offence. Proposition 36 adjusted the law so that in order to be classified as a third strike, the offence must be a “serious or violent felony”. This serious or violent clause does not apply to defendants previously convicted of rape, murder or child molestation. Additionally, the initiative added a provision in the California Penal Code that allows people currently serving life sentences as a result of a nonviolent or nonserious third st