Episode Summary
Polly Klaas was taken from her own home in the middle of the night back in 1993. But had the legal system worked like it was supposed to, the man who took her never should have been walking free that night to enter her home. Her case went on to spark an outcry in the country for harsher punishment on repeat offenders. But when her case set the precedent for the three-strikes rule there was backlash no one anticipated.
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Episode Info
Polly Klaas
Polly and her sister Annie
A composite sketch of Polly’s abductor
Polly Klaas
Richard Allen Davis
Polly and her father Mark
Episode Source Material
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Fox News: The child abduction and murder that changed American justice, by Matt London
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The New York Times: Born of Grief, ‘Three Strikes’ Laws Are Being Rethought, by Jane Gross
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Los Angeles Times: Suspect’s Tip Leads to Body of Polly Klaas, by Richard Paddock and Jenifer Warren
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Los Angeles Times: Davis Convicted of Murdering Polly Klaas, by Mary Curtius
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The Press Democrat: 20 years later, Petaluma remembers Polly Klaas, by Mary Callahan
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Argus Courier: Polly Klaas’ Petaluma kidnapping led to advocacy for children, by Matt Brown
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People Magazine: Odyssey of Violence, by Thomas Fields-Meyer