Preview

California's Proposition 21

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2130 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
California's Proposition 21
Introduction
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 and what its estimated financial cost is.
What is Proposition 21?

According to Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia, California Proposition 21, also known as “Prop 21”, was a proposition proposed and passed in 2000, which increased a variety of criminal penalties for crimes committed by youth and incorporated many youth offenders into the adult criminal justice system (http://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposition_21). Research states that Former Governor Pete Wilson headed the campaign to qualify Prop 21 for the statewide ballot (http://www.4children.org/news/100pr21.htm). The governor intended to “crack down” on juvenile crime, and the initiative would create the following major provisions as summarized by Attorney general of California.
Proposition 21 increased punishment for gang-related felonies; death penalty for gang-related murder; indeterminate life sentences fro home-invasion robbery, carjacking, witness intimidation and drive-by shootings; and a new crime of recruiting for gang activities; and authorities wiretapping for gang activities (http://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposition_21).

It requires adult trial fro juveniles 14 or older charged with murder or specified sex offenses. It included the elimination of informal



References: California Proposition 21 (2000) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved online on 04/24/2008 from, http://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposition_21. Champion, Dean John. “The Juvenile Justice System: Delinquency, Processing, and the Law.” Person Prentice Hall, 2007. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Final Project/Project 2 Handout. CJ 439: Juvenile Justice, Spring Quarter 2008. No Author (2008). The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. “About Proposition 21.” Retrieved online on 04/24/2008 from, http://www.cjcj.org/jjic/prop_21.php. No Author (2008). Office of the Attorney General. State of California Department of Justice. Juvenile Justice in California 2003. Retrieved online on 04/28/2008 from, http://search.doj.ca.gov/AGSearch/search/. Proposition 21: March 2000 Juvenile Justice Initiative. Anticipated County Impact: January 2000. Retrieved on 05/01/2008 from, http://www.csac.counties.org/legislation/juvenile_ justice/prop21.pdf. Proposition 21: Juvenile Crime- California State Government. Retrieved online on 04/24/2008 from, http://www.smartvoter.org/2000/03/07/ca/state/prop/21/. Proposition 21: Juvenile Crime Initiative. Retrieved online on 04/24/2008 from, http://www.4children.org/news/100pr21.htm. San Diego 10 News. Mission Beach Rapists Sentenced To Life. Retrieved on 05/13/2009 from http://www.10news.com/news/16137064/detail.html.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Edward Humes is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, non-fiction, and true crime writer. Of his twelve books, five involve the criminal justice system. In this work, Humes takes on the sizeable task of examining the complicated juvenile justice system, chronicling the stories of several juvenile offenders and juvenile justice officials, and how they navigate the confusing and often arbitrary laws of the California juvenile justice system. Humes delivers an informative, eye-opening, and often dispiriting account of what goes on in the halls of America’s juvenile courts and correctional facilities.…

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Voter Guide 1996). The majority of CA voted in favor for the proposition, except in the counties…

    • 163 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Young offenders cause much damage, no one will quarrel with the humanitarian motives that support contemporary expungement schemes, but the unfortunate truth is that the policies have often failed to keep pace with realty” (Funk & Polsby, 1998). The justice systems appeared to be less inflicting of the intended punishment for Smith’s offense of breaking and entering along with the other crimes he committed. The punishment implemented designed more of a sentence that would correct or counteract the sentencing of the adult system which is the idea of establishing protective measures to keeping sensitive juvenile delinquency proceedings and records private. Legal barriers exist to deal with difficult situations and restrict the sharing of facts provided or learned about juvenile offenders between and among agencies such as law enforcement files that are permissible in a court of law under certain circumstances. The court and agencies must comply with federal and state statues as well as local ordinances, court orders and legal opinions.…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is the court decision to decide what type of program to place a juvenile offender into. These decisions are based on rather the crime requires incarceration to protect the public or if the offender can be rehabilitated through one of the other alternatives. In the United States there are over 3,000 correctional facilities to house juvenile offenders. It is also pretty costly. So there are several alternatives to incarceration that can be least expensive for the state and also can be detrimental to help the…

    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. (2009).Seven Steps to Being Awarded a Grant. Retrieved September 2, 2009, from http://www.justice.utah.gov/…

    • 2181 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The United States puts more kids behind bars than any other industrialized nation in the world. By 1997 more than 107,000 young adults were behind bars. High crime rates and and fears of so many teens serving this amount of time scared many adults, and parents thinking their children wouldn’t ever be set free to live a normal life. State’s were rushing to lower the age of which you can be tried and sentenced as an adult. One state, California passed a law, it was called Proposition 21. It required adult trials for 14 year olds, with murder and certain sex offenses only.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    Proposition 35

    • 2584 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Cited: 10, October. "No on Proposition 35." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 03 Apr.…

    • 2584 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This is a source from New York Times, it is about a 37 years old man Mr. Schmidt, and he is the oldest defendant ever in California’s juvenile justice system. Just 16 when he molested and drowned a 3-year-old girl while high on methamphetamine, he has been in juvenile facilities for two decades. Under California law, juvenile offenders who commit serious crimes can be kept in the system until they are 25.…

    • 124 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    As the years go by the amount of children being tried as adults is increasing and what many don’t see is we have to make a change to that. The juvenile justice system was created in the late 1800s to improve the U.S. policies regarding youth offenders. It is believed youth could be rehabilitated and needs to be protected and kept separate from the adult criminals. But when California passed Prop 21 the policy changed and young offenders were punished rather than rehabilitated. According to The League Of Women Voters information packet:…

    • 1521 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Proposition 21, also known as “the Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act of 1998,” was passed in 2000 in the state of California with the objective of toughening the penalties on felonies committed by youths, specifically gang-related felonies. While the intention of this proposition is certainly a good one since it aimed to fight and reduce youth and gang-related crimes, the repercussions and harms that it brought to the youth population and the society as a whole, in my opinion, outweigh the pros and benefits; therefore, I would suggest that Proposition 21 is not an effective policy and I would stand against it.…

    • 1682 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    This act isn’t just a free pass; it demands the right consequences and offers a variety of consequences and rehabilitation to provide specific assistance that is effective and customized for our youth criminal offenders. Some options for sentencing youth include: sentencing circles, counseling for specific problems and reintegrating the offender back into the community through community service, a parole officer, curfew and ensuring they are following the specified guidelines and being monitored regularly. As well, for more serious crimes, youth justice can provide adult sentence from 14 years old. We offer so many different ways to rehabilitate these young offenders and it does a great job at bringing these offenders back into the community and finding suitable consequences. Youth court cases have become less frequent since this act, dropping by thousands, the amount of youth charged is considerably lower than not charged (used to be the opposite) and youth incarnation rates have dropped. This shows how effective our youth justice system is and no matter what you think of it, you have to agree it works and sets our young offenders up for a brighter…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    SB 81 was California’s response and systematic overhaul to the issues perceived of the Department of Juvenile Justice System. The bill affected the youth housed in the Department Juvenile System and the counties’ recourse for dealing with youth that needed more assistance than counties with diminished resources could provide towards rehabilitating youth offenders. The bill shifted the responsibility of housing non-violent juvenile offenders. The bill limited the obligation of service to youthful offenders that committed 707b offenses and provided funding for counties to put together intervention programs. Each county was affected differently by the implementation of the bill and the options for counties with using the Department of Juvenile Justice System to deal with rehabilitating youth offenders. The research question that I am conducting analysis on is “has SB 81 met its intent in reducing the state’s reliance on a critically flawed and costly state juvenile justice system?” From my…

    • 4335 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Since California voters enacted Prop. 215, the debate over it and more recent proposals has been covered widely on national television and radio, as well as in local and national newspapers and magazines. Early examples include USA Today’s front-page story on Prop. 215’s…

    • 2535 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Criminal Law Evaluation

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Meyer, J.F. and Grant, D.R. (2003). The Courts in our Crimal Justice System. Upper Saddle River, NJ.: Prentice Hall.…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Security

    • 49264 Words
    • 198 Pages

    This project was supported by Grant No. 2007-DD-BX-K131 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime. Points of View or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not represent the official position or policies of the United States Department of Justice.…

    • 49264 Words
    • 198 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics