California's Proposition 21: Pros and Cons

Juvenile crime has become one of America's most prominent issues, even as the overall crime rate has declined to the lowest point in decades. Several celebrated cases have helped create an image of teenagers run amok and younger and younger kids committing major felonies. Once apprehended, these children enter a juvenile justice system that many claim utilizes an outdated approach. In some cases, murderers have gone free at age 25 simply because that is the incarceration limit for the juvenile justice system.

In response, an advocacy group placed a get-tough measure (called Proposition 21) on the California ballot. This initiative, which passed overwhelmingly (62 percent to 38 percent), calls for dramatic changes in the juvenile justice system. This paper will examine Proposition 21, highlighting the arguments for and against the initiative, and submit that the initiative ultimately is a fatally flawed attempt to correct a problem that has been greatly overstated.

A juvenile is a young person who has yet to reach the age of majority. In most states, that age is 18, while others set 17 and a handful use 16. The criminal justice system of each state also sets limits on when the adult criminal system can intervene (for California, it is 14). For example, depending on the state, children as young as 10 can be "waived" into the adult system. Meanwhile, most states also set a maximum age (such as 21 or 25) where juvenile system authority over a young person terminates.

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ing"). Under Proposition 21, removal to Superior Court is solely at the prosecutor's discretion, and is mandated for any crime, if committed by an adult, that would carry penalties of execution or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (California Secretary of State). In addition, the code is amended so that juvenile criminal records will no longer be expunged and so that juvenile defendants will no longer automatically be released to their parents pending trial. The proposition also expands the use of prior offenses in making determinations of whether a juvenile defendant should be removed to Superior Court (California Secretary of State). The treatment of juveniles after trial also changes under Proposition 21. Many juveniles will end up in adult prisons, and probation is greatly restricted under the initiative. In other words, California, by adopting Proposition 21, abandoned the traditional philosophy of juvenile justice. Proponents cite several arguments in favor of Proposition 21. First, the initiative does not represent a dramatic break in philosophy, but rather a recognition of the fact that the current juvenile system fails to address the most serious offenders. This initiative will not change the wa

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