Vote no on Proposition 9 | Napa Valley Register

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Vote no on Proposition 9

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Comment

Proposition 9 on the Nov. 4 ballot is one of three proposals to enact changes to the California criminal justice system. The law is intended to increase the voice of victims and decrease the rights of prisoners in various respects.

In our view, the measure has flaws that could upset the balance of rights in the criminal justice system, and should be rejected.

Proposition 9 tried to increase the voice of the victim in various ways. It would add language the California Constitution to require that they be notified of matters such as bail hearings, plea deals and sentencing. It would increase the number of people who could testify at a sentencing, when victims and their family members often are allowed to express their personal views in a process that otherwise limits their role to witnesses.

It also would reduce the number of parole hearings that convicted criminals are entitled to have, and would require that convicted criminals pay restitution to victims before funds are collected for them for other purposes.

One of the flaws with the measure is it covers so many aspects of the system, including some that heretofore have not been seen as a problem. Does someone think that California prisoners have too many parole hearings today?

Perhaps more significantly, victims in California gained greatly through the Victims’ Bill of Rights, passed as Proposition 8 in 1982. It is important to remember that in criminal matters it is the state, not the family of those affected, that has the right and obligation to seek justice.

The Victims’ Bill of Rights already includes protections for victims, including guarantees that they be notified of important hearings. To place a further obligation on prosecutors to inform victims of all hearings may compromise the process of discovery — the legal term for investigations of the facts in a case. For justice to be blind, one side cannot have a special relationship with witnesses.

It is true, and tragic, that victims sometimes feel neglected or misused by the criminal justice system. This measure would not solve that problem, and instead might make problems of its own.

Vote no on Proposition 9.

4 comment(s)

kbf wrote on Oct 16, 2008 7:51 AM:

" Does anyone think criminals have too many hearings today--you bet they do. I feel if they are sentenced to a period of time that is what they should do, not less because of good behavior or time spent in jail before and during the trial. When a crime is done the victim has to carry that for the rest of their life. Vote Yes on 9 "

Dwayne wrote on Oct 16, 2008 12:52 PM:

" Now there's that liberal voice of the NVR...

Vote YES on Prop 9.... "

rizzi5 wrote on Oct 17, 2008 7:53 PM:

" I am someone who thinks they get too many hearings, here's just one example: "Helter Skelter" inmates Bruce Davis and Leslie Van Houten, followers of Charles Manson, Convicted of multiple brutal murders, have had 38 parole hearings in 30 years. That's 38 times the families involved have been forced to relive the painful crime and pay their own expenses to attend the hearing, plus 38 hearing that taxpayers have had to pay for. Prop 9 allows parole judges to increase the number of years between hearings. This proposition will save the tax payers millions of dollars and spare the families untold grief and the expense of attending hearing after hearing. This is just one of the many reasons you should Vote Yes on Prop 9 "

jeepracer10 wrote on Oct 28, 2008 1:03 PM:

" If serious criminals were to be executed this would solve lots of budget problems. "

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