Arlin Duran
Govt 150
April 16, 2015
California Proposition 47 Many Constitutional proposals are neither accepted or denied depending on how many individuals favor it. The California Proposition 47 was one of the approved proposals. California Proposition 47, the Safe Neighbors and Schools Act, requests felony crimes that are considered not to be serious or violent to misdemeanors and would allow anyone currently serving a felony sentence that meets those qualifications to be resentenced. According to the California General Election Voter Information Guide, the main goal of Prop 47 was to have focus on more heinous crimes and give more to the rehabilitation of the less serious offenders. The money saved by passing this proposition would go
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Also, there would be less prisoners serving time for lesser, nonviolent crimes. During the 1970’s, the tough on crime movement contributed to a drastic increase in punishment for lesser crimes and led a massive increase in imprisonment, even though the crime rates stayed the same (Gascon 2014). It is disputed that even though the movement was attractive to voters, it is doing more harm than good. Ever since the 1960’s, the amount of individuals detained has increased roughly about ten times than normal (Gascon 2014). Expanding a prison population requires more places, such as prisons and jails, to detain prisoners and California had built “22 new prisons in just 30 years” (Gascon 2014). Building new prisons and detaining more prisoner’s costs money and this money will come out of taxpayers. Newt Gingrich and B. Wayne Hughes Jr. said in an editorial that “prison is for people that we are afraid of, but we have been filling them with many folks we are just mad at.” They also state if the proposition is passed it will bring some light on the face that over $60,000 is spent on one inmate alone per year, while less than $10,000 is spent on each student in schools (Gingrich and Hughes 2014). The American Civil Liberties Union, the Sentencing Project, and the Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice are also in favor of the proposition. Some of these groups agree with Gingrich and Hughes statements, the money
In the state of Texas, crime is a major policy issue that is taken seriously by government on all levels including policymaking. The most critical components of the criminal justice policymaking are public opinion, federal court ruling, and the budget. Even though the state’s general public opinion is in support of a “lock’em up and throw away the key” philosophy, past federal court decisions and the state budget have enacted constrains on policymakers in order to prevent this philosophy from being imposed. These constrains are formed
Three ways that the California Constitutional can be amended; Two-thirds of the membership of each chamber of the California State Legislature must purpose an amendment, which then goes statewide ballot to be ratified or rejected by the state's voters. The state legislature is allowed to propose revisions (not just amendments) to the constitution. If measures conflict, and they both get more than 50 percent of the vote, the one with the highest number of votes prevails. With that information coming from the website and book I believe that pretty tough. If the votes isn’t confirmed at the beginning that’s when things get treaty. It’s too many outlets to collecting votes after the first tie. I believe in a way it is pretty easy but was made difficult
California Proposition 103 appeared on the ballot of November 8, 1988. The proposition sought to bring about some reforms to the insurance policies in the state of California. “The key reforms in Proposition 103 were to say that three primary
“Poverty goes up; Crime goes down; Prison population doubles. It doesn 't fit, unless some sort of alternative explanation comes into play. Maybe all those new nonviolent prisoners fit into some new national policy imperative. Maybe they all broke some new set of unwritten societal rules. But what?” – Matt Taibbi
In 2009, Roberts and Trounstein argued that California was "ungovernable" and “our state government did not have the capacity to make timely decision to solve the problems facing our state”. However, California is not ungovernable anymore. In past few years, California has many changes, which affect on the state legislature as well as change the ways Californians vote. People can name some changes as “Open” or “Jungle” Primary (Prop. 14), Citizen’s Redistricting Commission (Prop.11), Majority budget (Prop. 25), and enacted the “top-two” open primary. The Governor and the Legislature, in turn, gave up authority to solve problems that are better solved at a regional or community scale. Nowadays, California is one of the model of state government.
By beginning his paper with background information, Schuck invites the reader into the conversation – overcrowding is so high in the prison system that the holding capacity of prisons has become unconstitutional, but will persist due to skeptical, crime-fearing, and tax-weary public that will decline any reforms presented. Schuck uses California as a prime example of the serious
The purpose of the following paper is to explain California’s Proposition 21. This writer will explain the pros and cons about this proposition; as well as what voters voted for when they chose “yes” for this proposition. Research will be done in order to explain what the reasoning for Proposition 21, and the changes that occurred when it enacted in the State of California. The following information will be provided as well; prosecution of juveniles in adult court, juvenile incarceration and detention, changes in juvenile probation, juvenile record confidentiality and criminal history, gang provisions, and serious and violent felony offenses. In addition, the following paper will also explain the impact under this proposition
One public policy issue that is attracting a great deal of attention is the matter of prison reform. While a great many members of the public support improvements in the safety, security and quality of life in prisons, few will endorse this at the expense of the same for law-abiding citizens. However, according to Koh (2013), Texas is currently facing one such dilemma. According to Koh, "prison reforms may result in better conditions for inmates, but those improvements come at the expense of welfare cash assistance and other government relief for the needy, according to a study released this month by Rice University and Louisiana State University." (Koh, p. 1)
Today, more than 2 million Americans are incarcerated in either a state facility, federal correctional facility or a local installation (Batey,2002). Due to longer sentences, incorporating harsh sentencing guidelines, and mandatory minimum punishments (NeSmith,2015). With each inmate costing taxpayers an average of $30,000 annually. The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 were increased sentences for a broad range of offenses, as well as establishing federal penalties for most murders and a large number of other crimes already subject to state law (Batey,2002). In addition to reducing the discretion of state judicial systems; as well as 85 percent of sentence satisfaction and establishing a mandatory life sentence for those convicted of three serious violent crimes or drug offenses (NeSmith,2015). .
According to Krisberg and Taylor-Nicholson, state budget cuts, lowering prison over-crowding, and improving corrections are the underlying reasons for the policy shift. Although “county custody costs (county jail) may be somewhat lower than state prison costs, shifting the custody and supervision costs of selected offender groups to the county will only cut spending in state prisons,” and may fail to lower the overall costs of corrections in California (Owen & Mobley, 2012, p. 47). Whereas the state prison system seems to be progressing toward its population-reduction goal, “this measure is shortsighted and somewhat deceiving” because a “corresponding rise in county jail populations will continue California’s
The United States Supreme Court ruled that prison overcrowding in California was equivalent to cruel and unusual punishment. This decision recharged a long-standing disagreement among scholars and politicians as to whether or not courts should intervene to protect make changes. Some believe this is a matter or the well-being of those unable to make decisions for themselves. Others believe this is not a top priority and by forcing states to improve state institutions, the already costly industry will have cost increase. The journal also discusses the economic effects reform has had. Concluding that they have made positive changes at a slightly higher expense. The changes made by the state made the facilities closer to “humane” by court standards. (7)
The human and economic costs of mass incarceration have become untenable, which is why politicians on both sides of the political spectrum, as well as police chiefs and civil rights groups, have made reform a priority, though they may not necessarily agree on the specifics of reform. The primary issues that you will hear a great deal about in 2016
The proliferation of prison overcrowding has been a rising concern for the U.S. The growing prison population poses considerable health and safety risks to prison staffs and employees, as well as to inmates themselves. The risks will continue to increase if no immediate actions are taken. Whereas fighting proliferation is fundamentally the duty of the U.S. government, prison overcrowding has exposed that the U.S. government will need to take measures to combat the flaws in the prison and criminal justice system. Restructuring the government to combat the danger of prison overcrowding, specifically in California, thus requires reforms that reestablishes the penal codes, increases the state’s budget, and develops
The United States spends nearly $81 billion per year on corrections, but where is this money coming from, where is it going, and is it actually reducing crime rates? Crime rates in the United States have fallen since 1991 and murder rates have also fallen by half in last 25 years, however the prison population has increased by 500% in the last 40 years. Increase in the number of incarcerated citizens also lead to an increase in new prisons around the country and also the crippling of the american justice system. As the author of Wages of Rebellion describes, the prison-industrial-system as the most
In America’s tough economic society, over population has become an exceedingly hot topic issue. However, overcrowding in America’s prison system has been a severe problem since the 1970's. The majority of the changes have come from different policies on what demographic to imprison and for what reason. The perspective of locking up criminals because they are "evil" is what spawned this (Allen, 2008). Because of this perspective the prison system in America is in need of serious reorganization. Since 1980, most states have one or more of their prisons or the entire system under orders from the federal courts to maintain minimum constitutional standards (Stewart, 2006).