STANISLAUS CONNECTIONS
Working For Peace, Justice, and A Sustainable Environment
March, 2000
A Modesto Peace/Life Center Publication
Election Issues
| ORGANIZATIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS CALIFORNIA PROPOSITIONS Information current as of January 24, 2000 (Prop. 24 removed by Supreme Court) Code:Y=Yes N=No Election: March7, 2000 |
L e a g u e |
A C L U |
C o u n c I l |
A A R P |
P P A |
C N A |
L A B O R |
C T A |
P T A |
C S B A |
S I E R R A |
P C L |
N R D C |
A A U W |
F R I E N D S |
C M R C E |
C A T H O L I C |
A F S C |
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| lA Authorizes Indian gambling compacts | Y | ||||||||||||||||||
| 12 $2.1 billion parks bond | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||||||||
| 13 $1.7 billion water bond | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||||||||||
| 14 $350 million library bond | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||||||||
| 15 $220 million forensic crime laboratory bond | N | Y | Y | ||||||||||||||||
| 16 $50 million veterans' home bond | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||||||||||||||
| 17 Legalizes fundraising raffles by nonprofit groups | N | Y | Y | N | Y | ||||||||||||||
| 18 Expands special circumstances - accused murderers - death penalty | N | N | N | N | |||||||||||||||
| 19 Expands authority, increases penalties - 2nd degree murder- UC & Bart police | N | Y | N | ||||||||||||||||
| 20 Percentage of State Lottery for textbooks | N | Y | N | N | N | N | |||||||||||||
| 21 Increases gang-related penalties; youths tried as adults | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | |||||||||
| 22 Recognizes only heterosexual marriage | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | ||||||||
| 23 Vote "none of the above" - state & federal offices | N | N | N | N | |||||||||||||||
| 25 Political campaigns- disclosures, contribution limits, public financing | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | ||||||||||||
| 26 Local school bonds - majority approval rather than 2/3 vote | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||||
| 27 Candidates, Congress - vol. intent - serve no more than 3 terms | N | N | N | N | |||||||||||||||
| 28 Repeals Prop. 10tobacco surtaxes | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | ||||||||||
| 29 Repeals gambling compacts - Gov. Wilson & 11 Indian tribes | |||||||||||||||||||
| 30& 31 Referenda on legislation - suing insurance companies- bad faith claims | Y | Y | Y | N | |||||||||||||||
| League League of Women
Voters PTA CA Parent Teacher
Assoc. Cathlic CA Catholic Conf. ACLU American Civil Liberties Union CSBA CA School Board Assoc. AFSC Am. Friends Service Com. Council CA Council of Churches SIERRA Sierra Club of CA AARP Am. Assoc. of Retired Persons PCL Planning & Conservation League PPA CA Planned Parenthood Affiliates NRDC National Resource Defense Council CNA CA Nurses Assoc. AAUW Am. Assoc. of University Women LABOR CA Labor Federation, AFL/CIO Friends Friends Committee on Legislation CTA CA Teachem Assoc CMRCE CA Chamber of Commerce -- Modified by Stanislaus Connections from a Project of the Redwood Forest Friends Meeting and the Sonoma County Peace & Justice Center, 540 Pacific Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95404 |
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Turning back the clock on juvenile justice: Prop 21 steps back a century
. . . the good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain, is floating in mid-air, until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life. - Jane Addams
A century ago Jane Addams was regarded nationwide with near universal admiration for her work with the Chicago poor. She and her co-workers at the Hull-House Settlement helped create and implement the first separate justice system for juveniles.
Since the opening of Hull-House, Jane and her friends had been greatly disturbed by the large number of young people in the neighborhood who were picked up by the police . . . and thrown into the Chicago City Prison with hardened criminals. . . . (T)he exposure to real criminals often pushed the children into lives of crime.
What was needed, the women believed, was to take the children out of the adult criminal system entirely, and handle their offenses through a special court. They wanted to see children who broke the law treated by the state in the same way wise and just parents dealt with their wayward offspring.
For years, judges, lawyers, and charity workers in Chicago also complained about the city's harsh treatment of young offenders, and as far back as 1890, there had been talk about the need for a juvenile court. In the mid-1890s, public support for the plan was fueled by a series of newspaper exposés and investigations by the Chicago Woman's Club that turned up horror after horror: children as young as ten held in jail not because they were accused of a crime, but because they were homeless or abused; children witnessing executions; children being beaten by guards. In 1898 the various groups calling for reform joined forces. That year, Jane served on a juvenile justice committee with members of the Chicago Bar Association. After researching the issue, the group drew up legislation to establish a juvenile court. The bill passed the Illinois state legislature in February 1899 and was signed into law by Governor John R Tanner.
The Cook County Juvenile Court, the first of its kind in the world, opened July 1, 1899. The court proved to be an important model for the rest of the country. By 1920 all but three states had established special courts for young offenders. The idea soon spread to Europe, where juvenile courts had been set up in several countries by World War I.
- Excerpted from A Useful Woman: The Early Life of Jane Addams by Gioia Diliberto, Scribner, 1999.
