NCJ Number
95916
Editor(s)
P B McGuigan,
T L Donovan
Date Published
1984
Length
22 pages
Annotation
A transcript is provided of a conference session which focuses on the need for a conservative coalition to reform the criminal justice system.
Abstract
Attention is directed to the 'mugging' of the people of California by the State supreme court: the court invalidated the exercise by the people of their right under the initiative process to place a reapportionment plan on the ballot. Additionally, the California State Supreme Court had earlier struck down the death penalty after citizens had voted to apply it through the initiative process. The court also struck down, by chipping away in a series of decisions, the people's right to limit their own local property taxation, which the people voted in another initiative and which qualified for the ballot as Proposition l3. The people's response -- voting themselves an initiative remedy called The Victims Bill of Rights -- is discussed. Specifically, the bill enacted cures the problems of the exclusionary rule and of bail reform. The bill also stated that a victim has a right, not just to compensation, but also to be heard, not only at the time of sentencing, but at the time of any bail hearing or revocation hearing. Similiarities between this legislation and Reagan's anticrime legislation are addressed, and the need for Reagan to invent a new model, to juxtapose a 'Conservative Opportunity Society' against the 'Liberal Welfare State,' is emphasized. Problems with liberalism are enumerated, and the fundamental challenges that citizens and legislators face are identified.