March 7th: Proposition 21 Passes (62% to 38%) and Broadens the
California Three Strikes Law
Voters walked into a voting booth on March 7th faced with the following
words:
"Increases punishment for gang-related felonies, home-invasion
robbery, carjacking, witness intimidation and drive-by shootings; and creates
crime of gang recruitment activities."
This was the summary of a 43 page
initiative that vastly changed numerous penal codes including broadening the
Three Strikes law categories for what can count as "violent" and "serious"
felonies (such that gang-related felonies and "conspiracy" are now among the
new "serious" felonies). Is this a democracy? Do people really know what they
are voting for when 43 pages are compacted into one sentence? Does this
sentence convey what Proposition 21 was really about? This is a sham and a
farce!
In other elelction news, Propositions 18 and 19 won by
overwhelming margins to increase the use of the death penalty and Garcetti will
have to face Cooley in a runoff for the November election.
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reprinted, or reposted without permission of Families to Amend California's
3-Strikes.
Date last modified: 06/22/00.