BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON Public Safety
Senator John Vasconcellos, Chair S
1999-2000 Regular Session B
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SB 323 (Hayden)
As Introduced February 8, 1999
Hearing date: April 13, 1999
Penal Code
RC:jm
PEACE PROCESS TASK FORCE,
COMMISSION ON PRISON PEACE
AND PEACE PROCESS COORDINATOR
HISTORY
Source: Author
Prior Legislation: SB 547 (Watson) 1997-98 Session -
vetoed by Governor
SB 980 (Hayden) 1997-98 Session - vetoed by
Governor
SB 1731 (Hayden) 1997-98 Session - died in
Senate Appropriations
Committee
Support: California Child, Youth and Family Coalition;
ACLU; Trauma Foundation; Torres and Torres
Opposition:Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
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KEY ISSUES
SHOULD THE PEACE PROCESS TASK FORCE AND THE OFFICE OF THE
PEACE PROCESS COORDINATOR BE CREATED, AS SPECIFIED, TO
ADDRESS GANG VIOLENCE PREVENTION IN THE STATE?
(CONTINUED)
SHOULD THE COMMISSION ON PRISON PEACE BE CREATED, AS SPECIFIED, TO ADDRESS
GANG VIOLENCE PREVENTION IN CALIFORNIA'S CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to create the Peace Process
Task Force and an Office of the Peace Process Coordinator
to address gang violence prevention in the state; and to
create the Commission on Prison Peace to address gang
violence prevention in the California correctional system.
Existing law defines a criminal street gang as any ongoing
organization, association, or group of three or more
persons, whether formal or informal, having as one its
primary activities the commission of one or more specified
criminal acts, having a common name or common identifying
sign or symbol, and whose members individually or
collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of
criminal gang activity. (Penal Code sec. 186.22(f))
Existing law provides for various penalties for gang
activities, such as the active participation in a criminal
street gang, or the coercion or solicitation of persons
into a criminal street gang. (Penal Code secs. 186.22 and
186.26)
Under current law , various task forces exist. For example,
each county is authorized and encouraged to create a county
task force on violent crimes against women, which must
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develop a countywide policy on violent crimes against
women. (Penal Code sec. 14140 et seq.)
Existing law directs the California Department of Justice
to develop and implement the California Gang, Crime and
Violence Prevention Partnership Program. This program was
enacted in 1997 for the purpose of reducing gangs, criminal
activity and youth violence in communities with high
incidences of gang violence. This program appropriates
funds to community-based organizations for prevention and
intervention activities for at-risk youth. (Penal Code
sec. 13825.2)
Existing law establishes the Gang Violence Suppression
Program in the Office of Criminal Justice Planning (OCJP)
to provide financial and technical assistance for district
attorneys' offices, law enforcement agencies, county
probation departments and other organizations that are
primarily engaged in the suppression of gang violence.
(Penal Code sec. 13826 et seq.)
Under existing law , the Director of the Department of
Corrections is vested with the supervision, management and
control of the State prisons and is responsible for the
care, custody, treatment, training, discipline and
employment of a person confined in those prisons. The
Director may prescribe rules and regulations for the
administration of the prisons. (Penal Code secs. 5054 and
5058)
This bill creates the Peace Process Task Force, as a joint
project of state government, educational institutions and
private foundations, to hold public hearings, make findings
and recommendations regarding gang violence prevention, and
promote efforts to create a peace process.
This bill establishes in the Office of Attorney General,
the Office of Peace Process Coordinator with specified
duties.
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This bill creates the Commission on Prison Peace to
undertake a public review of innovative approaches to
reduce the causes of violence and increase the conditions
of peace and safety in the California correctional system.
This bill would remain in effect until January 1, 2002,
unless extended by a subsequent statute.
COMMENTS
1. Need for the bill
According to the author:
Over 55 years ago, a Los Angeles Police Department
memo on LA gangs proposed to "take them out of
circulation until they realize that the authorities
will not tolerate gangsterism." Five decades later,
gangs in Los Angeles and across the state are larger,
stronger and more violent than ever, and the war on
gangs, drugs and crime has become a blood-filled urban
quagmire.
Young people in inner cities have created gang truces
and are now seeking to replace violence with jobs and
hope. California must include those individuals in a
serious discussion on finding solutions to urban
problems. It is time to give inner cities hope for
change through a committed peace process that places
policing in a new framework of prevention.
Violence in our streets is correlated with violence in
our correctional system and vice versa. California
has some of the most violent prisons in the nation.
Several of our high security prisons are currently
under federal and state investigations for incidents
of fatal shootings, staged rapes and inmate fights,
civil rights violations and investigative cover-ups.
Inmate-on-prison guard and inmate-on-inmate violence
is out of control.
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We must examine the conditions that lead to violence
in our prisons and implement policies that encourage
an atmosphere of peace and safety-otherwise, the cycle
will proceed and we will continue to export this
violent behavior into our streets.
SB 323 helps address these issues by including in the
political process the people working to create
peaceful conditions in our neighborhoods and prisons.
Community-based groups like Impacto, F.A.C.E.S.,
Amer-I-Can, Barrios Unidos, Unity One and various
other groups are already working toward creating
gang-truces and encouraging economic development and
community empowerment. By bringing them together with
elected officials, educators, law-enforcement
authorities and the clergy, we can move toward
comprehensive solutions to gang and violence problems
in our streets and in out correctional system.
Unless California engages itself in a peace-oriented
process aimed at solving urban and prison violence,
our policies will continue to fail and generations of
young people will continue to live lives filled with
despair and powerlessness rather than hope and
empowerment.
2. Qualifications of the Peace Process Coordinator
The Peace Process Coordinator shall have both professional
experience in community-based violence prevention programs
and juvenile justice programs, and a personal background in
communities where gang violence is prevalent. The
Coordinator would be appointed by the Governor and
confirmed by the Senate.
3. Duties of the Peace Process Coordinator
The Peace Process Coordinator would be required to do all
of the following:
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a) Serve as staff director to the Peace Process Task
Force and the Commission on Prison Peace;
b) Identify areas of the state where gang violence
has been significantly reduced, meet with local
violence prevention groups and interested parties,
including law enforcement, and evaluate any lessons
for state policy;
c) Visit areas of the state where gang violence seems
endemic and ongoing, meet with local prevention
groups, and evaluate and make recommendations
regarding measures that might result in the
lessening of violence;
d) Convene public workshops that bring together
various interested parties, including the California
Gang, Crime, and Violence Prevention Partnership
Program, for the purpose of achieving better
communications, conflict resolution, and
understanding of identifiable barriers to violence
prevention; and
e) Seek interagency cooperative agreements of
memoranda of understanding with the Department of
Justice, the Employment Development, the Trade and
Commerce Agency, and any other state agencies to
help maximize institutional resources focused on
violence prevention.
SHOULD THE COORDINATOR'S DUTIES, AS SPECIFIED ABOVE, ALSO
INCLUDE THE CALIFORNIA CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM?
4. Membership of the Commission on Prison Peace
The Commission on Prison Peace shall consist of a
commission chair and seventeen additional members as
follows:
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a) The chair and eight additional members would be
appointed by the Governor upon subsequent approval
of the Senate Committee on Rules. The eight
appointees would have experience and expertise in
corrections or law enforcement, and would include:
a member of the Department of
Corrections administrative staff;
a Department of Corrections
correctional officer; and
a representative of the California
Correctional Peace Officers Association;
b) Four members would be appointed by the Speaker of
the Assembly;
c) Four members would be appointed by the Senate
Committee on Rules; and
d) The Attorney General or a designee.
The legislative appointees shall be academic, religious or
community leaders with demonstrated records of working to
lessen gang violence or prison violence.
5. Duties of the Commission on Prison Peace
The Commission on Prison Peace would be required to do all
of the following:
a) Undertake a public review of innovative approaches
to reduce the causes of violence and increase the
conditions of peace and safety in California's
correctional system;
b) Hold public hearings and seek the testimony of
correctional officers, prison inmates, former
inmates, policy experts, academic specialists, and
community leaders; and
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c) Report its preliminary findings no later than
September 1, 2000 and its final report no later than
December 31, 2000 to the Governor and the
Legislature.
The Commission shall initially meet upon the call of the
chair and shall adopt rules governing its proceedings. The
Commission shall operate by consensus or, failing
consensus, shall adopt procedures for noting majority and
minority viewpoints.
SHOULD THIS BILL SPECIFY THE DUTIES OF THE CHAIRPERSON?
6. Membership of the Peace Process Task Force
The Peace Process Task Force shall consist of the
twenty-three members as follows:
a) Five members would be appointed by the Senate
Committee on Rules: three of whom shall have
personal experience with gang issues; one of whom
shall have professional experience with economic
development and job creation in communities with
significant gang and violence problems; one member
shall have academic or public policy experience with
issues related to gangs and violence;
b) Five members would be appointed by the Speaker of
the Assembly: three of whom shall have personal
experience with gang issues; one of whom shall have
professional experience with economic development
and job creation in communities with significant
gang and violence problems; one member shall have
academic or public policy experience with issues
related to gangs and violence;
c) Six members would be appointed by the Governor:
one member shall be a law enforcement officer; one
member shall be a probation officer; one member
shall be a member of the California Business
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Roundtable; one member shall be a member of the
chamber of commerce; one member shall be a
correctional administrator; one member shall be a
private citizen; and
d) Seven members would be appointed by the chair, in
consultation with the Office of Attorney General.
These members shall include persons whose background
include former gang membership, incarceration,
personal efforts to create gang truces, and a
commitment to a peaceful, legal, and democratic
means of resolving the problem of inner-city
violence. When making these appointments the chair
shall ensure that the northern, central, and
southern regions of California are adequately
represented on the task force.
The membership of the task force would reflect the ethnic
and geographic complexity of the gang problem in this
state. The appointments of the members would have to be
made on or before February 15, 2000.
SHOULD THE BILL SPECIFY THAT ACTIVE GANG MEMBERS ARE NOT
ELIGIBLE TO SERVE ON THE TASK FORCE?
7. Chairperson of the Peace Process Task Force
The Governor shall select a chair from among the members of
the task force. The chair is responsible for the following
duties:
a) Calling and chairing meetings;
b) Publicly representing the task force when
necessary;
c) Leading an inclusive process;
d) Encouraging the maximum involvement of all task
force members; and
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e) Encouraging support and partnerships with the
private sector and other institutions.
The task force may select up to three co-chairs, select
officers, and establish committees among its members.
8. Duties of the Task Force
The Task Force would be required to do all of the
following:
a) Hold at least four public hearings, with at least
two in communities most heavily marked by urban
violence. The first of these hearings would need to
be held no later than April 15, 2000;
b) Hold an additional public hearing in a prison
setting or in location where inmate participation or
dialogue is made possible;
c) Include those who created gang truces directly in
the process of defining and recommending
alternatives that will lessen or prevent violence in
the inner city;
d) Create a common ground of discussion among public
officials, law enforcement, and those individuals
attempting to transform their lives from violence to
nonviolent empowerment;
e) Identify the local problems and needs of each
specific community as they relate to gangs, violence
and crime;
f) Identify strategies related to gang truces, job
creation and other social services to address
problems related to local gang violence and crime;
g) Assess and recommend possible ways of breaking the
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cycle of gang violence through early childhood
programs, remedial education and training,
inner-city jobs, drug treatment, and other violence
prevention strategies;
h) Provide assistance to local communities suffering
from gang violence; and
i) Prepare a comprehensive report, which shall be
presented to the Senate and Assembly Public Safety
Committees and the Governor by January 1, 2001, and
by January 1st of each year thereafter, concerning
the formulation of comprehensive public policy that
identifies state and local strategies for reducing
gang-related crime and violence.
9. Staff Available to Assist the Task Force
The Office of the Attorney General shall, and the Senate
Office of Research may, make staff resources available to
the task force for the purpose of providing research,
policy and technical assistance. Other public and private
institutions are encouraged to offer staff and other
in-kind resources.
DO THESE OFFICES HAVE ADEQUATE RESOURCES AND STAFF
AVAILABLE TO ASSIST THE PEACE PROCESS TASK FORCE?
BY USING THE RESOURCES IN THESE OFFICES, WILL THE SERVICES
THEY OFFER DECLINE?
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10. The Gang Violence Suppression Program, Office of
Criminal Justice Planning
The Gang Violence Suppression Program in the Office of
Criminal Justice Planning (OCJP) has the responsibility to
provide financial and technical assistance for district
attorneys' offices, local law enforcement agencies, county
probation departments, school districts, county offices of
education, and other specified organizations that are
primarily engaged in the suppression of gang violence. The
executive director is required annually to prepare a report
to the Legislature. (Penal Code sec. 13826.1)
According to OCJP, the executive director distributes
grants on a competitive basis to various law enforcement
entities to identify, prosecute, and remove violent gang
members from the community. These grants also go to
community-based organizations and schools to deter young
people from gang violence and other criminal activities
through prevention and educational programs. OCJP also
administers a clearinghouse of information on anti-gang
efforts throughout California.
WOULD THE PEACE PROCESS TASK FORCE USE STAFF FROM THE
OFFICE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE PLANNING'S GANG VIOLENCE
SUPPRESSION BRANCH?
11. Sunset Date
This bill would be repealed on January 1, 2002.
IS JANUARY 1, 2002 AN APPROPRIATE SUNSET DATE?
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