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The proposition covers a lot of ground. It unseals the records of minors who have committed certain crimes. It would restrict the authority of parole officials to decide whether juveniles should be held or released before a court hearing. Especially controversial is the new class of "gang-related" offenses. For instance, it would add years to offenses found to be gang-related, make gang recruitment a serious crime, expand the use of wiretaps against suspected gang members and force people convicted of gang-related offenses to register with local authorities. Some groups say the definition of gangs is too loose and unfairly targets minorities.

The California Youth Authority, California Juvenile Court Judges and Chief Probation Officers of California are against it. And the ambivalence of district attorneys suggests prosecutors might not even want the additional power. The state D.A.s' association is sponsoring Prop. 21. But in Los Angeles, where the anti-gang provisions would be likely to have the most impact, D.A. Gil Garcetti has declined to take a position on it. According to a spokeswoman for his office, "There are things he likes about it and things he doesn't like about it." The D.A. of traditionally conservative San Diego has also declined to take a position, offering the same explanation.

Victims' rights advocates are among the initiative's strongest supporters. Maggie Elvey is the assistant director of Crime Victims United, and a major proponent of Prop. 21. (Elvey's husband was murdered seven years ago, and she has publicly grieved that his teenage killer, who was convicted as a juvenile, will be out of jail with a sealed record at age 25.) In Elvey's mind, Prop. 21 will act as a deterrent, teaching kids without a strong sense of right and wrong that there are real consequences for their actions.

She complains that groups such as the ACLU are using "scare tactics," giving kids misinformation about the provisions of the bill and how it will be used. "We are not trying to put all of the young ones in prison with the big boys," she says. Juveniles in adult facilities are housed separately from adult criminals, according to Wilson and other proponents. "They have all of these kids believing that we're going to pick them up if there's three in the crowd dressed strange. That's a little unconstitutional. I don't think that's going to happen."

Even Elvey admits, though, that the gang-related provisions of Prop. 21 are open to a lot of interpretation by police and prosecutors. "I don't know how they're going to tell if they're gangs. There are parts of this thing that are a little crazy," she says, "but that's what happens when you can't get the legislators to do good legislation and the public has to come along and write up this kind of thing."

Juvenile judges have the ability to try kids 14 and older as adults, and in cases of rape and murder, frequently do. But Davis argues that Prop. 21 streamlines the system, mandating adult trials for certain offenses and enabling prosecutors to move the cases to adult court, without judicial review.

As of 1997, 15 states already had laws on the books that allowed prosecutors to file some cases directly to adult court. According to Justice Department statistics released this week, the number of people under 18 sent to adult state prisons more than doubled between 1985 and 1997, serving an average of five to eight years for such crimes as rape, robbery and drugs. The total number is still proportionally small -- 7,400 teens in adult jails in 97. 

But the increase comes at a time when the number of crimes committed by teens is going way down. The 1998 Justice Department report says the juvenile violent crime arrest rate is at its lowest since 1987. And it comes despite unanimous research that shows serving time in a state facility is much more likely to lead to repeat offenses than juvenile facilities. Wilson calls the juvenile system "outmoded," but it remains the only correctional model that is geared heavily toward rehabilitation.

Even some conservatives are uncomfortable with the measure.

"Frankly, I don't like this proposition," says Michael Warder, vice president of the Claremont Institute, a conservative public policy research organization in Sacramento. "I'm generally a tough, law-and-order kind of guy. But I think this goes too far. For the full weight and force of the state of California to come down on a 14-year-old, I think that's a little bit over the top."

Warder is generally in favor of the "three-strikes" law because it puts away "incorrigible" repeat felons. And he believes that punishment is just as important a part of the justice system as deterrence and rehabilitation.

But Prop. 21 makes him uneasy, because it takes discretion over sentencing out of the hands of judges. "It gives the state greater and greater power and I don't know what the checks would be on that power." Warder also believes this power marks government interference in families. "This initiative, in a way, would put aside the obligations of the parents and have the state intervene directly in family relations."

As for the gang provisions, even Warder acknowledges that Prop. 21 would disproportionately affect poor kids and ethnic minorities. "I don't generally make this kind of argument, because personally I find it repugnant, but nonetheless ... I think there is disparate impact on the basis of race and economic status. I'm not a big fan of gangs, but on the other hand you have to look at the consequences of this kind of law, and who does it seem to be targeting."

National numbers reflect this as well: While there are few statistics on the class of juvenile offenders, according to the Department of Justice, 58 percent of teenagers entering state prisons were African-American, though they make up only 12 percent of the state's population.

And not all victims rights groups are in favor of Prop. 21. Mark Klaas became one of California's best known advocates of victims rights, after his 12-year-old daughter, Polly, was killed by a repeat offender. Klaas has supported measures to make sex offenders register with local officials after they've served their time. But he opposes Prop. 21 because "it does not have a prevention component to it. By completely focusing on trying young people as adults, for whatever crime, we're just going to continue to fill up our prisons and throw away the youth of America."

Next page | Why the crackdown when juvenile crime is going down?