Blog May 26, 2011
California and the Prison Crisis
California has been facing a prison crisis for decades and it has been constantly flip-flopping. Back in 2007 Los Angeles Times writer George Skelton summed it up well saying that when it comes to crime both the politicians and the electorate “have demanded that California lock up the bad guys and keep ‘em there for a very long time. But they haven’t wanted to pay for it.” At that point in time (February) the prison population was around 173,000 yet the capacity was about 100,000. A…
Having garnered the support for his realignment bill AB 109 to pass, the Governor is now faced with another obstacle: the Vehicle Licensing Fees (VLF) and sales tax extension will not be on the ballot in June. Republicans have blocked the ballot initiative and without the extension many have assumed that the Governor’s plans for realignment (which rely on those funds) are indefinitely halted, but why? Without the tax extensions, counties will be pushed to the limit. Approximately $500…
Blog May 17, 2011
Schools Still Safest Places for Kids*
Following the killings at Columbine and other schools around the country in the late 1990s, public officials reacted with a frenzy. It was a classic case of exception-based policies: a few, isolated cases that were clearly the exception rather than the rule became the basis for wide-ranging policies. One report noted at the time that “A moral panic swept the country as parents and children suddenly feared for their safety at school.” One middle-school principal claimed school shootings could…
County officials and local communities are beginning to voice support for the Governor’s juvenile justice realignment proposal. San Francisco County Board of Supervisors signed a resolution in March to support the closure of the State youth correctional institutions and reaffirming their commitment to model juvenile justice practices at the county level. Read the resolution to learn more. The Bakersfield Californian published an editorial at the end of April condemning Kern County’s…
Blog Apr 29, 2011
Why Three Strikes Fails
While I applaud those who work to ensure that even the seemingly worst defendants are treated fairly and humanely, I’ve always seen the logic of draconian sentences for psychopaths like Richard Allen Davis (the gloating kidnapper and murderer of 12 year-old Polly Klaas in 1993 and poster-demon for the Three Strikes initiative even though the law wouldn’t have prevented his particular crime). Some people commit acts so heinous they can never be released back to society. So, when I first heard…