Ballot Proposition in California Essay

Introduction

In California, residents of the state can exercise one of three forms of direct democracy by taking part in a ballot proposition. A ballot proposition is a referendum that is submitted to the electorate for voting to add, remove or change sections of the law. An example of such a proposition brought before California voters were Proposition 57. Proposition 57 was a referendum which was meant to amend current state statutes on criminal sentences and juvenile criminal proceedings and sentencing.

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the ballot proposition placed before voters in California in November 2016. It will then describe the issues that sanctioned the development of the proposal. It will also explain its history of the issues and describe the proposition and its analysis.

Issues

The state of California faced one of the worst problems in history, which arose from overcrowded prisons. As of 2011, prisons in the state could host only 85,000 inmates. Unfortunately, the prisons were overcrowded with twice as much the required number of 156, 000 inmates (Newman and Scott 547). The situation was so dire that in the year 2006, it was reported that an avoidable death occurred in any of the prisons in the state once in every five days. The deaths were occasioned by difficulties in obtaining medical care due to strained human resources which lead to a health crisis (Mayeux para, 3). It was even noted that in one occasion, one inmate died of a merciless beating in a crowded cell and none of the prison staff noticed there was a dead body in the cell for several hours let alone be able to prevent it (Mayeux para, 4).

Apart from overcrowding prisons, the state of California has a history of trying youths as adults in courts, an occurrence which is globally likened to juvenile injustice. According to Holland (para. 1), trying adults as youth results in a wide range of devastating effects. These effects are manifested in their health. Their health may be affected since they are highly likely to contract communicable diseases, contract oral health issues and commit suicides. Holland (para. 4) shares that youths who are sentenced to adult facilities are 36 times more like to commit suicide more than those confined to juvenile facilities. Also, teens who are tried and convicted as adults are exposed to violence by staff and other inmates who beat them and in some cases, sexually abuse them. Furthermore, trying youths as adults does not reduce recidivism as intended. In fact, teenagers who are charged in adult courts are likely to re-offend and sentenced again, and most of the youth sentences were from the African American community (Holland, para. 5).

History

Overcrowding in prison in California did not start recently. In fact, the occurrence has been going on for decades. According to Fuchs (para. 2), the incident was a result of the state's decision to institute an ultra-progressive penal system in the 1980's. During the 1980's and the 1990's, there was public fear about the increase of crime that was occurring at an alarming rate, which prompted the state to increase sentencing. Hence, as an effort to deter and control crime, the state ended up ratifying over 1000 law which resulted in increasing sentencing in five years. Since the state focused more on sentencing criminals more than rehabilitating them, the offenders would get released without training or education to help them acquire skills which would make them return to crime. As a result, these criminals ended up being rearrested and convicted hence contributing to the increased number of offenders who were incarcerated (Fuchs para, 3).

According to Ridolfi et al. (3), as of now, the current trends in youth trials as adults and subsequent sentencing in California encompass the use of the direct file. The direct file comprises an occurrence where prosecutors have the sole discretion on whether they can charge a young offender in an adult court. Since the year 2003, there have been more than 10,000 youths in the state who were tried as adults. Out of the 10,000, 70% of them were charged under direct file. Unfortunately, prosecutors in California are predominantly dependent on direct file despite the fact that crimes committed by the youth have been declining. It is further unfortunate that direct file cases happen to be concentrated in certain types of counties in California. These counties include Sacramento, Riverside, Orange, Tulare, San Bernardino and San Joaquin (Ridolfi et al. 3). The occurrence implies that youth offenders in these counties are subjected to a potentially unfair fate of being tried as adults

Description

In November 2016, voters in the state of California voted in favor and against Proposition 57 which was meant to amend current state statutes on criminal sentences and juvenile criminal proceedings and sentencing. If the majority of the electorate voted 'yes,' it would mean that certain inmates in state prisons who were sentenced due to nonviolent crimes would receive consideration for release earlier than their stipulated sentences. Thus, these types of inmates would be subjected to a system where they were awarded additional sentencing credits that were given based on their behavior or achievements that they attained in their educational or rehabilitative fields. A 'yes' vote would also mean that youth who were suspected to have engaged in crimes would have their cases heard in a juvenile court before consideration on whether they should be transferred to an adult court (Proposition 57 1).

On the other hand, if the majority of the electorate voted 'no,' it would mean that no change would be instituted in the processes of releasing inmates. It would also have meant that no state prison would embark on the process of awarding additional sentencing credits to the prisoners which would be used in the consideration for early release. Also, a 'no' vote would have meant that youths would continue to be charged as adults without considering whether their cases could be heard in juvenile courts (Proposition 57 1).

In the referendum, the majority of the voters voted 'yes' to Proposition 57 (Morgan Hill Times para 15). The occurrence meant that the voters approved the proposition consequently paving the way for the consideration of parole of non-violent convicts in the state. Another immediate consequence of the vote was that some juvenile sentencing policies were changed and non-violent offenders began earning credit points based on their education and rehabilitative advances as per the referendum's proposal.

Analysis

The analysis of the proposition that successfully amended the law can be analyzed from the perspective of its potential impacts. The proposers of the ballot proposition argued that it would have significant monetary benefits. They argued that both state and local governments would benefit from fiscal effects.

One of the benefits would be net state savings. Savings would be attained since once the prison population declined, the cost of provision of necessities such as food, water and attires would also decrease. The cost of hiring more human resources for oversight and supervision would also decrease. Also, the event was youth offenders would be prosecuted and sentenced in juvenile courts rather than adult courts would also reduce costs for the state. For instance, parole and prison costs for these youths would be saved since they would not be spending time in prison or be supervised by state agents. Also, since juvenile court proceeding tends to be shorter than an adult court proceeding, the state would have also saved costs (Proposition 57 4). Another potential benefit would be to the youth offenders. Since they would not be tried as adults, they would be shielded from the unfortunate events that occur to youths incarcerated together with adults. They would, therefore, be saved from torture, abuse, health problems and emotional abuse.

Unfortunately, the proposition also had some of its negative implications. For instance, realizing an inmate purely based on credits before he or she completed rehabilitation at the correctional facility would have increased the possibility of the criminal to re-offend and thus be convicted again. The consequence of the occurrence would be to increase the rate of crime in the states (Proposition 57 9). Secondly, the process would not be considered fair since some of their victims would not feel that there was justice. The victims would think that the offenders received an equivalent of a lighter sentence, which would impede their healing process from the atrocities committed against them.

Conclusion

Though the ballot proposition that was voted in favor in California that was voted in favor in California is a noble attempt to reduce congestions in prisons and stop the prosecution of youths as adults, it has its negative consequences. Ideally, it would be better to construct new jails in the state to reduce the congestion problem that to release criminals early. Furthermore, cost savings is not a sufficient reason to discharge convicts before their sentence elapses for its principle of utility would dictate that it would be best for the criminals to stay behind bars for the overall good of the society.

Works Cited

Fuchs, Erin. "How California Prisons Got To Be Insanely Overcrowded." Slate Magazine, 4 Aug. 2013, www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2013/08/04/california_prison_overcrowding_how_did_it_get_that_way.html.

Holland, John. "Adult Courts Degrade Health of Juveniles, Their Families, California Study Finds." Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, 6 Feb. 2017, jjie.org/2017/02/06/adult-courts-degrade-health-of-juveniles-their-families-california-study-finds/.

Mayeux, Sara. "The Unconstitutional Horrors of Prison Overcrowding." Newsweek, 22 Mar. 2016, www.newsweek.com/unconstitutional-horrors-prison-overcrowding-315640.

Morgan Hill Times. "Initiative Seeks to Change Crime Laws." Morgan Hill Times, www.morganhilltimes.com/news/initiative-seeks-to-change-crime-laws/article_80a89b6c-22fe-11e8-860f-afb85ee150ad.html.

Newman, William J., and Charles L. Scott. "Brown v. Plata: prison overcrowding in California." Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online 40.4 (2012): 547-552.

Proposition 57. "Criminal Sentences. Juvenile Criminal Proceedings and Sentencing. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute." 2016, pp. 1-10., www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2016/Prop57-110816.pdf.

Ridolfi, Laura, et al. "The Prosecution of Youths as Adults in California ." 2016, pp. 1-10., www.cjcj.org/uploads/cjcj/documents/the_prosecution_of_youth_as_adults_in_california_a_2015_update.pdf.