Flawed if well-intentioned initiatives related to criminal justice are the norm in California politics. In 2016, at the behest of Gov. Jerry Brown, voters even approved a measure that cleared the way for the early release of some violent convicted sex offenders. Now another poorly crafted initiative is on the ballot. Proposition 6 would ban jails and prisons in the state from being able to force inmates to work.
But state Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, once student government president at San Diego State University, makes a powerful argument when he notes how that this would undermine the state’s commitment to victims’ rights by allowing prisoners to refuse to make court-ordered restitution payments. Glazer has been a common-sense voice for years. This is one more valuable example. Vote “no” on this purported reform.
