June 17, 2008 -Senate Committee Approves Caballero Youth Violence Prevention Bills
SACRAMENTO –The Senate Committee on Public Safety today passed two bills authored by Assembly Member Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) that target two factors contributing to gang activity and youth violence in California. Caballero chairs the Assembly Select Committee on Youth Violence Prevention.
AB 1029 seeks to improve the level of education programs available to inmates confined in California prisons, by creating a prison board of education comprised of educators, employers, union officials and correctional officials. It would give that board control over prison education dollars, reducing the potential for these funds to be shifted to other correctional activities.
Speaking of AB 1029, Caballero said: “It doesn’t matter if you are 16 or 36: if you’re illiterate and lack basic job skills, you’re more likely to get involved with gangs and end up in prison.”
The California Department of Corrections reported in 1998 that 50% of inmates were illiterate and that only 30% of inmates had access to education or vocational programs. Various studies show that correctional education potentially offers many benefits that more than offset its costs.
Current state policies call for educating prisoners, and especially helping them learn to read and learn basic vocational skills. However, the Legislative Analyst has noted that when prisoners are unable to attend classes due to lockdowns, funds appropriated for education programs are simply diverted to other purposes.
“When prison education dollars are diverted or not spent on education, we end up releasing people that are likely to re-offend because they still lack basic life skills, and cannot read or write well,” said Caballero. “This costs us all.
“AB 1029 will help ensure that these dollars help end the cycles of violence that victimize communities, and cost our state billions of dollars in prison costs.”
AB 1033 creates a new misdemeanor crime for an adult who contributes to the delinquency of a minor by encouraging or enticing that young person to become a member of a street gang.
Describing AB 1033 Caballero said: “This bill will give law enforcement a new tool to work with parents and other family members whose children are at risk of gang involvement.”
The bill is sponsored by Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, and supported by the California District Attorneys Association, the California State Sheriffs' Association, the Chief Probation Officers of California and other law enforcement organizations. While current law makes it a felony for a person to solicit or recruit another to actively participate in a criminal street gang, law enforcement officials argue that they need the lesser misdemeanor penalty to use to intervene with family members or others who are in a position to recruit and encourage a minor child to join a gang. The bill would provide that adults who are arrested for this offense have access to counseling and other assistance before becoming subject to jail or fines.
“Early intervention in the lives of young people is our best way to head off the gang involvement that destroys so many of our communities,” said Caballero. “This approach is cost effective, and it works.”
Both bills will be heard next in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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