Proposition 21: Ineffective Policy

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.
Proposition 21, which is designed to increase a variety of penalties for crimes committed by youths and incorporate more youth offenders into the adult criminal justice system in order to allow harsher punishments that would impede youths from committing serious crimes, entails major changes to the California juvenile justice system; examples of these changes are: (1) increased punishment for gang-related felonies (e.g. indeterminate life sentences for home-invasion robbery, carjacking, witness intimidation and drive-by shootings), (2) requirement of adult trials for juveniles 14 or older charged with murder or specified sex offenses, (3) elimination of informal probation for juveniles committing felonies (youth offenders can no longer be “informally probated” with juvenile courts and have their criminal records cancelled after good behaviors during probation) (4) requirement of registration for gang related offenses, (5) authorization of wiretapping for gang activities, (6) designation of additional crimes as violent and serious felonies, such as recruiting for gang activities, thereby making offenders subject to longer sentences, and, last but not least, (7) making death penalty a punishment option for gang-related murder” (Woods, pg. 1). These changes, according to the texts of the proposition, are aimed to hinder more youths from