the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Oct 20, 2008
This November, California has Proposition 6 on the ballot in which 14-year-olds can be tried in adult courts and sent to adult prisons, if the accused are called “gang members” by the prosecution. And who is a gang member? California already has over 100,000 names on an existing “gang database.”
The proposition also goes after poor families. It would require local governments to run criminal background checks on recipients of federal (Section 8) housing aid every year–and evict a whole family if one member is convicted of a “drug-related” or “violent” crime.
This proposition also suggests pouring one billion dollars into law enforcement–and thus reducing what is available for education, health care and other public services.
Certainly, crime and gangs are a huge problem. But all this proposition does is take young people and put them in prisons, where many will no doubt turn into even bigger criminals.
At the same time, it is taking away the little money now spent on education, housing and health care–for ordinary people. In other words, it will only create worse social conditions–which will no doubt result in even worse crime!