NJR102000
10-31-2004, 11:38 AM
Two new 15-second television advertisements in opposition to Proposition 66 began airing this week. The measure seeks to change the "three-strikes" sentencing law so it will only apply to offenders whose qualifying crime is either serious or violent.
* GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: "Under Proposition 66, 26,000 dangerous criminals will be released from prison. Child molesters. Rapists. Murderers. Keep them off the streets and out of your neighborhood. Vote no on 66. Keep them behind bars."
* ANALYSIS: While the governor is right that some convicted child molesters, rapists and murderers in all likelihood will be released if the initiative passes, his numbers are on very shaky ground.
Section 11 of the initiative is titled "Release of Qualified Individuals." It says the measure would apply to "any individual sentenced under the prior 'three strikes' law," but subject to a number of conditions.
Two of those key conditions would restrict the application of the initiative to felons serving the indeterminate 25-years-to-life terms, and to those offenders whose third felony is classified under statute as either serious or violent.
About 4,100 of the state's 7,400-plus "three-strike" inmates in prison would qualify for a "resentencing" hearing if Proposition 66 passes. As the title of Section 11 implies, they would have an excellent - in fact, a highly likely - chance of gaining their release at resentencing hearings. No one disputes that an undetermined number of the 4,100 offenders eligible for "resentencing" do, in fact, have prior convictions for child molestation, rape and murder.
Schwarzenegger's ad implies, however, that the law also will apply to an additional 22,000 inmates of the state's 32,000 inmates who had their sentences doubled under the "three-strikes" law on the basis of just a single prior serious or violent felony conviction.
But a legal opinion issued by the Legislative Counsel of California concluded that the initiative will not apply to "two-strike" inmates, and a Sacramento Superior Court judge in August ordered Proposition 66 opponents to drop their claims in their official ballot arguments that the measure would release 26,000 inmates.
* GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: "Under Proposition 66, 26,000 dangerous criminals will be released from prison. Child molesters. Rapists. Murderers. Keep them off the streets and out of your neighborhood. Vote no on 66. Keep them behind bars."
* ANALYSIS: While the governor is right that some convicted child molesters, rapists and murderers in all likelihood will be released if the initiative passes, his numbers are on very shaky ground.
Section 11 of the initiative is titled "Release of Qualified Individuals." It says the measure would apply to "any individual sentenced under the prior 'three strikes' law," but subject to a number of conditions.
Two of those key conditions would restrict the application of the initiative to felons serving the indeterminate 25-years-to-life terms, and to those offenders whose third felony is classified under statute as either serious or violent.
About 4,100 of the state's 7,400-plus "three-strike" inmates in prison would qualify for a "resentencing" hearing if Proposition 66 passes. As the title of Section 11 implies, they would have an excellent - in fact, a highly likely - chance of gaining their release at resentencing hearings. No one disputes that an undetermined number of the 4,100 offenders eligible for "resentencing" do, in fact, have prior convictions for child molestation, rape and murder.
Schwarzenegger's ad implies, however, that the law also will apply to an additional 22,000 inmates of the state's 32,000 inmates who had their sentences doubled under the "three-strikes" law on the basis of just a single prior serious or violent felony conviction.
But a legal opinion issued by the Legislative Counsel of California concluded that the initiative will not apply to "two-strike" inmates, and a Sacramento Superior Court judge in August ordered Proposition 66 opponents to drop their claims in their official ballot arguments that the measure would release 26,000 inmates.