Gone Too Far?

Citizens are always calling for the need to reduce crime through tougher laws, more jails and police officers, gun control, better prevention programs—whatever it takes. It is no wonder then, that when Proposition 21—the Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act aimed at trying minors as adults—hit the March ballot this year, 62 percent of California’s electorate voted for it, with proponents promising the new law would reduce juvenile crime. At times getting tough seems to be the answer. According to recent statistics, violent and property crime fell seven percent in 1999, continuing an 8-year downward trend. Some analysts credit President Clinton’s push for getting 100,000 new police officers on the streets. Others may think the trends are a natural consequence of strict laws like “three strikes” or more liberal uses of the death penalty (think Texas).

But critics of the new California law—which has taken effect already in some counties—say it’s fueling another crime—racial profiling.

The proposition makes it easier to prosecute juveniles as young as 14 and send them to prison instead of rehabilitation centers. Besides proposition’s obvious effects on juveniles as a whole, youth advocates say the new law unfairly targets minorities. Specifically, one provision of the proposition expands the definition of a gang. A group of youths gathering together in one area who are dressed in a certain way—(wearing colors like red or blue) and have a certain look (the ‘street look’) is enough for police to question them.

A study released on Feb. 2 by the Justice Policy Institute showed just how the law could impact youth of color today. It found that minority youth in California are more than twice as likely than white youth to be tried as adults and more than eight times more likely to be incarcerated by an adult criminal court. The also claimed that Asian American youth are 4.5 times more likely than white youth to be sent to prison. Other studies mirror similar types of racial disparities found in California. In Arizona, black juveniles with no former record are six times as likely as white youth to be locked up.

The law aims to decrease juvenile crime but is it doing more harm than good?