NCJ Number
89803
Date Published
1982
Length
115 pages
Annotation
Proposition 8, the criminal justice initiative sponsored by Paul Gann on California's June 1982 ballot contains constitutional defects, sloppy language, and internal inconsistencies that will result in extensive litigation. Moreover, the initiative does not provide any monies to pay its victim compensation and procedural reforms.
Abstract
The Gann initiative covers victim restitution, the right of all students and staff to attend safe public schools, exclusionary rules of evidence, repeal of the constitutional right to bial, use of prior felony convictions in criminal proceedings, abolishing the defense of limited capacity, and the insanity plea. Additional areas include sentencing for habitual offenders, sentencing and parole hearings, plea bargaining, Youth Authority commitments, mentally disordered sex offenders, and the severability clause. The report comments that the initiative's enactment could hamper criminal prosecutions by limiting prosecutors' ability to get needed accomplice testimony, throwing out settled rules of evidence, and creating new avenues of appeal for convicted criminals. It would also frustrate victims by allowing the defense attorney to put the victim on trial, opening the victim's past life to endless cross-examination, and by promising new rights to restitution which cannot be enforced if the offender has no money. The initiative would impose nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars annually in new uncompensated costs on local governments for more probation officers, longer hearings, and expanded jails, as well as consume all funds from the proposed prison bond. Other potential problems are increasing court backlogs with restitution and bail hearings, allowing the use of questionable evidence such as wiretaps and polygraphs, and giving courts the unprecendented authority to intervene in public school affairs. Proposition 8's text and estimates of costs for corrections and local governments incurred from its enactment are provided.