Continued Prop. 66 post-game analysis

A number of California newspapers continue to run interesting stories as follow-up to the defeat of Proposition 66, the initiative to amend the state’s Three Strikes Law that was defeated in a close vote in on Tuesday.  For example, here is an interesting article from the Oakland Tribune discussing the impact of Prop. 66’s defeat on two-strike parolees. In contrast, this Ventura County Star article and San Mateo Daily Journal piece details that prosecutors and other law enforcement officials were gratified by Prop. 66’s defeat.

Meanwhile, this Sacramento Bee editorial, entitled “Scaremongering wins,” analyzes the political forces leading to Prop. 66’s defeat and urges continued efforts to amend California’s Three Strikes Law:

California’s prison-industrial complex is strangling the state’s future. It’s soaking up dollars that could go to education, housing, transportation and other basic infrastructure that enhances the state’s prosperity and quality of life. That system locks away for too long people who are not dangerous and makes them more dangerous. Yet it fails to lock away for long enough people who truly are dangerous.

Proposition 66 was defeated, but that shouldn’t end efforts to reform California’s irrational sentencing system. Reformers should bring this one to voters again — and be better prepared for last-minute scare tactics.