California Proposition 6

1
California Proposition 6

• San Francisco Youth Commission Staff
  Presentation on Provisions of California
  Proposition 6 Appearing on the November 2008
  Ballot

2
Main Impact Youth Imprisonment Gang Activity

• Youth at 14-years-old would be tried as adults in
  the adult criminal system
• no longer eligible to be tried in the juvenile
  court system for gang related crimes
• Increases penalties from term imprisonment to
  life sentences for gang affiliated crimes
• resulting in higher prison population
• more inmates serving longer prison terms
• Law enforcement can sue members of street gangs
• can serve any three members as a means to sue
  the whole
• ambiguous as to who can be served or identified
  as a gang members

3
Main Impact Gang Activity

• Violation of gang injunctions is a new and
  separate crime punishable by fines, prison or
  jail time
• Offenses committed in furtherance of gang
  activity are subject to life imprisonment
• no longer required to be convicted of a felony,
  as long as you are booked for committing
• includes threats to witnesses, prosecutors,
  police, judges, sheriffs
• failing to disclose gang activity will become a
  felony offence
• More than one act of vandalism is aggregated for
  punishment purposes
• 10 acts of graffiti would result in a fine of
  100,000 or state imprisonment or both, if the
  damage caused exceeds 400
• if the graffiti work is gang related it may
  result in an enhancement to a life sentence

4
Main Impact Public Housing New Jails

• Will force landlords to evict tenants from
  residences where they suspect criminal conduct
  by gang members
• buildings suspected of such activity will be
  labeled a public nuisance and are subject to
  civil penalty
• no longer need to know for sure that such
  activity is occurring
• no need for a 30 day notice
• Requires agencies such as HUD to conduct criminal
  background checks of all Section 8 and Public
  Housing residents at least once per year
• Creates temporary jails to house offenders when
  the existing jails become overcrowded
• possible locations include empty schools, rec.
  centers and gyms

5
Main Impact Gang Registry, GPS, Undocumented
Youth

• Requires anyone convicted of any crime that is
  associated with gang activity to register in a
  Gang Database with the Sheriffs office
• This includes gang affiliated graffiti
• Failure to register is considered a FELONY or
  misdemeanor conviction
• Registration will stay on record for 5 years, may
  show up on background checks
• Removal of a GPS device worn for parole or
  probation would be considered a FELONY or
  misdemeanor
• Undocumented youths and persons can no longer be
  released on their own recognizance if booked for
  criminal activity

6
Main Impact Community Input Rehabilitative
Services

• Removes Community Based Organizations (CBOs)
  from juvenile justice coordinating councils
• CBOs would no longer be able to sit on councils
  that determine how prevention funding is spent
• CBOs that provide mental health counseling, drug
  and alcohol treatment programs are explicitly
  taken out of the preventative funding process
• Existing CBOs could be removed at discretion of
  the County Probation System
• probation may no longer be required to provide
  treatment services for offenders with drug and
  alcohol problems, or who need mental treatment

7
Main Impact Funding

• Requires state spending of at least 965 million
  for new criminal justice programs beginning in
  200910
• Money would come directly from the General Fund
  not Revenue spending
• this means funding that would otherwise go to
  Education or Economic Development (to provide
  better schooling, or jobs)
• Increases net annual State and City costs of more
  than 500 million within first few years, which
  would grow by tens of millions of dollars
  annually in subsequent year
• Money would mostly go to prison spending
• amount projected to increase by 100 million
  annually since Prop 6 requires funding to be
  adjusted for inflation

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Funding Distribution Overview
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Useful Facts to Consider San Francisco Youth
Drug Convictions

• Youth under 18 made up less than 15 per cent of
  the San Francisco population as of 2000
• Between 2000 - 2006 the number of youth in SF
  between the age of 15-24 declined by 15 per cent
• 4 of every 5 youth arrestees in state juvenile
  justice systems
• Are under the influence of alcohol or drugs while
  committing their crimes
• Test positive for drugs
• Are arrested for committing an alcohol or drug
  offense
• Admit having substance abuse and addiction
  problems, or share some combination of these
  characteristics
• without CBOs and programs to help ...

10
Useful Facts to Consider San Francisco Youth
Juvenile Justice

• SF JPD admits approximately 150 youth to Juvenile
  Hall per month
• approximately 250 referrals to probation per
  month since Jan 2008
• Since January 2008 approximately 1300 SF youth
  have been admitted to Juvenile Hall
• African American and Hispanic males make up 84
  per cent of the population of Juvenile Hall
  detainees in 2008
• have made up the highest population in the past 5
  years
• The majority of these youth are between the ages
  of 14-18
• The majority of youth detained in SF Juvenile
  Hall come from Bayview Hunters Point, Mission
  (inner outer) and the Western Edition

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Some Useful Facts to ConsiderSan Francisco Youth
Public Housing

• SF Housing Authority reports there are 40 active
  Public Housing developments in San Francisco
• there are approximately 19,000 residents on
  Section 8in San Francisco
• The Following Housing Projects have the highest
  populations of youth living beneath federal
  poverty guidelines
• Hunters View, Alice Griffith, Double Rock,
  Sunnydale/Velasco, Potrero Terrace, Westside
  Courts, Westbrook, Hunters Point AE W

12
Useful Facts to Consider San Francisco
Undocumented Youth

• Crime rates are the lowest among communities with
  higher percentages of immigrant families in CA
• US born citizens have institutionalization rates
  10 times higher than immigrants for the same age
  group (18-40)
• From 2000 to 2005 violent crime rates tended to
  decrease in CA cities with large inflows of
  recent immigrants
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

13
New Crimes Penalties Created
14
California Proposition 6

• San Francisco Youth Commission Staff
  Presentation on Provisions of California
  Proposition 6 Appearing on the November 2008
  Ballot