NCJ Number
90064
Date Published
1983
Length
215 pages
Annotation
This study of the effects of Proposition 13 on California's criminal justice system during the first year after its passage presents information on revenue and expenditure trends before and after the passage of Proposition 13, examines the responses of each criminal justice component, and identifies general trends and patterns that may have significant future implications.
Abstract
If no compensating revenues had been found after the passage of Proposition 13, which rolled back taxable property to its 1975 taxable property value and reduced the tax rate from an average of 2.7 percent to 1.2 percent, a 23 percent decrease in total expenditures of local governments would have been required; however, the State government bailed out local governments with funds from its accumulated surplus, and local governments raised user fees and expended some of their reserve funds. As a result, city government expenditures increased slightly in the fiscal year beginning July 1978 but not as fast as inflation, and county expenditures declined. In the 5 years preceding Proposition 13, statewide expenditures on local criminal justice functions had been increasing somewhat faster than inflation. Afterwards, few criminal justice agencies continued to spend at a rate that outstripped inflation, and most experienced a dramatic turnaround from previous patterns of growth, particularly probation departments, which eliminated a number of services and programs. Trends were observed that portend a less humane and less responsive system. The appendixes contain a list of members of the advisory panel, the names and positions of the persons interviewed, relevant statutes, and selected statistics for study sites. Eighty-five references are provided.