Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act

The article Money + Politics = Jailed Kids, written by Vince Beiser and Karla Solheim for Mother Jones Magazine is an article that talks about Proposition 21, or the Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act. This act was controversial because of the effects that the proposal might have on the California justice system once it is approved. Proposition 21, the authors, explain, would require kids as young as 14 to be tried on adult court for crimes such as murder or serious sex offense, give prosecutors expanded powers and sentence anyone 16 or older convicted in adult court to adult prison.

Beiser and Solhem also gives a brief background on the Proposition’s origins, stating that former California governor Pete Wilson was the one who conceived the idea of the said proposed act, backed by criminal justice and victims’ rights groups, as well as law-enforcement officials. The article then proceeded to the main issue – that the said act would be ineffective to the California justice system, will further worsen the juvenile youth’s condition, and benefit only Wilson and his backers on the said proposition. All throughout the article, the authors gave their reasons for their denouncement of Proposal 21, which provided the readers several statements from organized youth activist groups, law enforcement officers, and the Catholic church.