At a time of utter failure with California’s overcrowded prison system, a legislative initiative called the “Runner Initiative” is gaining momentum to get on the November ballot. Dubbed as a tough-on-crime law that will be presented to voters as the “The Safe Neighborhoods Act: Protect Crime Victims, Stop Gangs and Thugs” (Proposition 6), the initiative is a sledgehammer that plays upon the public’s fears, and will ultimately punish the state. Think Proposition 21—the law passed in 2000 that dramatically increased incarceration rates and sentences on juveniles—on steroids.
If passed, the law would target youth for adult incarceration. Deeming any youth 14 years or older who is convicted of a “gang-related” felony as unfit for trial in a juvenile court, it will mandate that recipients of public housing subsidies must submit to annual criminal background checks. The intention is to withdraw the housing subsidies and target undocumented immigrants by denying bail to those charged with violent or gang-related crimes. It requires local sheriffs to inform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the arrest of people who are undocumented. If California’s plan to get out of a financial, educational, and housing crisis is to lock up as many people as possible as fast as we can, this is the bill to do it.
But just as Senator George Runner is gaining support from the prison industry (who expects an obvious financial windfall from the law), the movement to oppose the initiative is also growing. Last week, elected officials, unions, and civil rights and faith-based organizations joined forces in opposition to Senator Runner, saying his initiative would bankrupt California by pumping billions of dollars into prisons and failed policing efforts. The public argument is a financial concern, but bills like the Runner Initiative don’t get decided by economic rationales. Rather, what the Runner Initiative is sure to create leading up to voting day is a battle of movements: those who believe California can incarcerate itself to prosperity, and those who feel there are likely deeper, systemic reasons for crime that need to be addressed.
I remember what happened the first go-round during Proposition 21. While the proposition passed statewide and became law, it lost in Northern California. The byproduct, other than the current overcrowded state prisons and county juvenile halls, was an entire generation of young people who became politicized, if only for their own survival.
The reason why Proposition 21—which was anticipated to breeze through—lost in many counties was because of the community organizing that was done by youth organizations. They educated other youths and their parents, researched and exposed the bills funders, and challenged the notion that youths are irredeemable.
The entire notion of “youth organizing,” which has since created an entire industry of nonprofits, after-schools programs, and even foundations, was born from the Proposition 21 battle. And today, these same young organizers who took over hotel lobbies, hung banners on overpasses, and canvassed neighborhoods, are ready for Runner. Battle tested, more resourced, and more seasoned, these young adults will certainly fight to ensure the next generation does not become fodder for the prison industry and convenient political scapegoats, as so many of their peers were.
“If passed, the law would target youth for adult incarceration. Deeming any youth 14 years or older who is convicted of a “gang-related” felony as unfit for trial in a juvenile court, it will mandate that recipients of public housing subsidies must submit to annual criminal background checks. “The intention is to withdraw the housing subsidies and target undocumented immigrants by denying bail to those charged with violent or gang-related crimes. It requires local sheriffs to inform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the arrest of people who are undocumented.”
Sounds like a *great* initiative. Props to George Runner.
The “utter failure” of the prison system? Have I missed the news—are dangerous criminals busting out of prison and spreading terror throughout our state? Uh, no. The dangerous criminals doing that have not busted out, they’ve either been let out, kept out (by lying attorneys and bullshit peddlers like Raj), or not yet been caught and held to answer for the hell they inflict on the innocent. Our prisons are doing no more or no less than what is possible when dealing with the hundreds of thousands of ill-bread and permanently-flawed human beings in their charge.
Raj ridicules Prop 6 as a “sledgehammer” approach to allying the public’s fears, insinuating that a sledgehammer is not the appropriate tool to deal with the terror that warring, predatory street gangs have brought to our neighborhoods. So I ask, if not a sledgehammer, then what? More words, more “new” approaches and programs, more basketball courts? Raj, have you missed the news? These punks have said “no” to everything that’s been tried. “No” to academics. “No” to vocational training. “No” to religious teachings. “No” to community outreach. “No” to joining the rest of us in the work world. The only thing to which they’ve said “yes” is to picking up sledgehammers of their own so that they can take what they want, murder at will, and lay claim to the streets, schools, and parks that the public provides for the community good.
Prop 6 does not “target youth for incarceration” it targets thug gang members. Parents who raise “youth” need not fear—the mistakes and misdeeds of decent kids will not land them in prison. But those parents who fail to use a sledgehammer of their own to keep their kids out of gangs, well, who better deserves to deal with the consequences?—they’re the ones who made this law necessary. They’re the ones whose children have brought Pelican Bay values into Juvenile Hall; they’re the ones whose children have made “public housing” synonymous with crime and fear.
Raj’s opposition movement is not particularly impressive. Elected officials? They’re the only group more destructive than gangs. Unions? Now there’s a group that knows about bankrupting a state. Civil rights and faith-based organizations? The former believes in rights mainly for people who specialize in disrespecting the rights of others, while the latter believes as it prays—with its eyes closed. And as for your politicized young people, the knowledge and wisdom they possess makes them right about as often as a stopped clock. Live in a city that operates under the direction of these groups and you’d better have a sledgehammer of your own.
When I hear “youth—blah blah blah” at the state level, I translate it to “You kids get off my lawn!”.
Young people may well have some good ideas to contribute, but I think a lot of them would be better dealt with at the community level. Forcing things up to the state level is often a way of making them disappear. I would advise young people to put the pressure on local government for many issues.
The exception is education, which has essentially been forced up to the state level without any alternative. If young people want to address their future, they need to consider higher education and how accessible it is.
Teachers’ unions and other groups are sympathetic to students’ needs, but students need to take a stand for their own interests.
Education vs. Jail. Which is the better investment?
This guy thinks that juvenile hall already has Pelican Bay values…..o boy, this couldn’t be an exaggeration by self-serving Republicans. Is this guy personally benefiting from Prop 6, or what? maybe he owns stock in some private prison about to be built…..so as an alternative to putting youth in Juvenile Hall, that already has Pelican Bay values….lets just put them in Pelican Bay at the age of 14…..sounds like Gitmo
#4,
I don’t think that there are kids with Pelican Bay values in the Hall, I know it. Those values: of loyalty to one’s criminal fraternity; acceptance of the convict lifestyle; commitment to the gang creed; virtual indifference to the pleas of loved ones, have corrupted our young people in direct proportion to the rise in youth gang culture and changed the complexion of our juvenile detention facilities.
When we have young teenagers branding themselves with their gang affiliations and participating in violent and sometimes murderous assaults as directed by their gang leaders, exactly what kind of values are they demonstrating? Are you of a mind that it is their ethnic culture that is being expressed? Is that what you want to say? If not that, then what? Since you took the time to criticize me for my description of the situation, then please, enlighten us all. There are millions of good people who are pissed-off over the corruption of our youth, so if you can direct us to the responsible party it would be very much appreciated.
I was there during the fight against Proposition 21 and Raj is right that young people are poised more than ever to fight the Runner Initiative. This isn’t just about targeting gang members. The rhetoric to getting Prop 21 and the Runner Initiative passed was based on fear. Proponents of it believe it will get at the worst of the worst offenders. But it’s just a smokescreen for racism— the implementation of initiatives like Prop 21 result in sweeps of young people who LOOK like gang members just because of the color of our skin. The real “bullshit peddlers” are the ones selling the Runner Initiative off as crime-fighting solutions. If passed, then let’s call it what it is—legalization of racism.
Jasmine,
Keep framing every attempt to put the lid on runaway gang violence as a “smokescreen for racism” and maybe every city in California will experience what Oakland is now enduring. Not only have the gangs turned Oakland neighborhoods into war zones, but they’re now sending robbery teams made up of heavily-armed kids into areas previously thought safe to take down stores (Trader Joe’s) and restaurants (including the patrons). These robbery teams are for all intents and purposes disposable, made-up of kids every bit as dumb and disposable that moron who was conned into gunning down Chauncey Bailey.
The ability of the good people in and around Oakland to live in a manner that we have all come to accept as normal is ending. Gang violence has inflicted lifestyle and fiscal consequences to citizens and business owners OF ALL COLORS!
Is that what you want for San Jose? Is there no price too high to pay for you to surrender the personal joy you experience from seeing “racism” everywhere?