Our View: Criminally bad crime measure

Every election cycle, Californians face myriad initiatives, many of which range from bad to worse. Once in a while, however, an initiative comes along that's so bad that it deserves special mention. This year's winner is Proposition 6, called "The Safe Neighborhoods Act" by its supporters, but there's nothing in this statutory measure that would increase community safety or improve California's neighborhoods. The initiative, which is little more than a massive funding and power grab by law enforcement agencies, engages in the basest form of fear-mongering to expand government, increase government spending and toughen up sentencing to unjust levels.

Supporters of the measure argue that "crime, gangs and violence are taking over our streets." Yes, gang-related crime is on the rise in some neighborhoods. But rather than address those problems in a sensible fashion by focusing on local law-enforcement and community-policing policies, the supporters of Prop. 6 have taken a big government approach that is almost certain to fail. It centralizes power in the state government, thus eroding the importance of local law enforcement. It throws nearly $1 billion in taxpayer funds a year at the problem — up from $365 million provided in the 2007-08 budget — at a time when the state cannot make its ends meet. It also ties the funding to the consumer price index, so this is another one of those "automatic spending" measures that will make it tougher to rein in future spending.

Supporters claim that the proposition will find all that money "without raising taxes," but that's simply a disingenuous way of saying that its authors have not identified a funding source. That leaves the state Legislature — hardly a font of wisdom or responsibility on spending matters — with the task of coming up with the money either through cuts or tax increases. There is no free lunch here. It also is filled with wasteful bureaucracy. For instance, Prop. 6 creates a new state office charged with distributing press releases about crime rates! The Legislative Analyst's Office also expects significant new caseloads and costs imposed on local courts, jails and criminal-justice agencies because of new sentencing standards.

The biggest problem with Prop. 6 is that it takes an almost cartoonish "tough on crime" approach that will increase the number of injustices and abuses in the current system. Despite providing some money for rehabilitation, Prop. 6 imposes harsher sentences and builds more jails. Prop. 6 expands the use of dubious "hearsay" evidence to gain convictions. It makes it more likely that 14-year-olds are tried as adults for gang-related convictions. The measure requires criminal-background checks for those living in public housing and it makes it easier for local district attorneys to use gang injunctions — controversial injunctions that cast the widest possible net in ensnaring alleged members of gangs. It would limit the use of funds for drug and mental-health programs. It is, in short, an overly punitive, "throw money at the problem," big government initiative that will stress the budget and create pressure for new taxes.

We urge a "no" vote on Prop. 6.