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June 01, 2008
California's Runner Initiative: Overview and Opposition
California's Runner Initiative: Overview and Opposition
The Runner Initiative, a California ballot initiative also called the "Safe Neighborhoods Act," was introduced in April by Senator George Runner (R-Antelope Valley), Assemblywoman Sharon Runner (R-Lancaster), Mike Reynolds, author of California's Three Strikes sentencing law, and San Bernardino County Supervisor Gary Ovitt. The Runner Initiative includes many traditional "tough on crime" approaches to addressing crime, including increasing the length of penalties for certain crimes, the establishment of a statewide gang registry database, and making individuals convicted of certain crimes ineligible for public housing. Unfortunately, this approach emphasizes punishment and incarceration over prevention and early intervention efforts that could be utilized to address the underlying causes of crimes. The text of the initiative can be found here.
In response to the initiative, on May 16th, Los Angeles Councilmembers Tony Cardenas and Bernard Parks announced their aggressive opposition to the Runner Initiative. A press release of their announcement is available here.
Additionally, over 50 California individuals and organizations have formed a Coalition to Defeat George Runner's Initiative. The Coalition includes elected officials, influential individuals, city governments, labor unions, and interfaith, environmental, civil rights, and other organizations. A complete listing of Coalition members is available at http://www.ellabakercenter.org/?p=runner_opposed. More information on the Coalition and action items to help defeat the Runner Initiative can be found at http://www.ellabakercenter.org/?p=defeat_runner.
The W. Haywood Burns Institute, a California-based national organization working to reduce the overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system, has also has written an analysis of this initiative. The analysis describes the implications associated with each line of the initiative's language and includes fiscal impacts, cost effective arguments against the initiative, a description of implications on youth of color, and a listing of the problems associated with the creation of a gang database. A listing of the initiative's proponents and opponents is also included. The analysis can be found at http://www.ellabakercenter.org/downloads/runner/runner_summary.pdf.
Posted by lois at June 1, 2008 08:44 PM