Proposition 6 on the California ballot seeks to increase spending for criminal justices resources, mostly to fight gangs. It would fund an increase in staffing for prosecutors, probation officers, jails and juvenile halls. It rewrites laws covering 30 offenses, making things tougher on convicted gang members by lengthening prison sentences for many gang-related crimes. It would make possession of methamphetamine a felony.

As a result of this tough-on-crime measure, the state can be expected to nearly triple the current costs of the programs that Proposition 6 supports. The state Legislative Analyst also says it will require a one-time outlay of half-a-billion dollars for more prisons to house all the people who will be locked up under this law, or locked up for longer periods.

California already has tough laws on the books on gangs. Police departments in big cities use civil injunctions, court-approved tactics that allow them to search suspected gang members in rough parts of town without probable cause. Most gang-related crimes come with so-called sentencing enhancements, meaning that if crimes were committed as part of gang activity, the convicts face five or 10 years more in prison than they would otherwise.

The measure makes other changes to the criminal justice system, making it easier for prosecutors to introduce hearsay evidence, easier to get preventative injunctions against reputed gang members, and providing money for security at public housing projects —  as long as the housing agencies require annual criminal background for their public housing residents.

Law enforcement officers in Napa County say that the fight against gangs here is not just a police problem. It requires community programs for youth and parental involvement as well as a law enforcement role. This measure does not acknowledge that viewpoint, and merely brings the hammer down harder.

More importantly, for the past 20 years California has been on a prison-building spree, and yet the system is still dangerously, perhaps unconstitutionally overcrowded and perennially on the edge of crisis. The costs to fix the prison system as it stands today might dwarf the state’s existing budget deficit. Adding to the length of sentences and the number of people behind bars does not seem a prudent step under the circumstances.

We simply cannot afford to continue on this prison-building bender for the limited positive results this measure might bring.

We urge a no vote on Proposition 6.