Proposition 21 Opposed

The League of Women Voters of Ventura County and California oppose Proposition 21, called the Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Act, on the March 7 ballot.

It is extreme, not needed and its potentially high costs would jeopardize further development of constructive prevention, treatment and rehabilitation programs. The Legislature has already rejected this expensive, punitive approach.

Recent polls have clearly shown that California voters want public policy emphasis to be on prevention, not on building more prisons. The Rand Corp.’s study “The Cost-Effectiveness of Early Intervention as a Strategy for Reducing Violent Crime” endorsed the cost-effective benefits produced by investing in specific types of youth and family intervention programs.

For more than five years the League of Women Voters has studied juvenile justice issues. We support a balanced approach to juvenile justice. This means adequate resources for both incarceration and crime prevention. This balance is not present in Proposition 21, which would shift state and local tax dollars away from crime prevention into expansion of the youth incarceration system. California already has the biggest youth prison system and the highest youth incarceration rate in the nation.

Proposition 21 would substantially reduce the judicial discretion that has enabled our Ventura County juvenile justice system to appropriately evaluate each situation on a case-by-case basis.

It would push more 16- and 17-year-olds into adult prisons. Proposition 21 provides no resources to pay for the new costs it mandates, such as jury trials, longer prison terms and more time-consuming probation procedure. The League of Women Voters urges all voters to oppose Proposition 21.

MARIE OFFERMAN

and PEGGY YORK

Juvenile Justice Study Committee

League of Women Voters

of Ventura County