Countywide : Graffiti Cleanup Is Possible Punishment

Judges in Orange County may be able to use a proposed graffiti abatement program as a form of punishment, thus relieving overcrowded jails by offering an alternative to traditional sentencing, Municipal Judge Richard W. Stanford Jr. said this week.

County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez has proposed using County Jail inmates to clean up the spray-painted scrawl that marks many buildings and walls in the urban areas of the county. The Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to study the feasibility of such a program plus a get-tough law that would put repeat offenders in jail.

Stanford, presiding judge in the Central Judicial District, took Vasquez’s proposal a step further and suggested in a letter to the supervisors that offenders clean up graffiti rather than go to jail.

He said the Central Court has been studying “intermediate sanctions” and other “community-based methods” of punishment that might alleviate jail overcrowding and, at the same time, ensure a high level of public safety.

“The bench desires to sentence convicted offenders to jail; however, jail overcrowding militates against incarceration, and alternatives are now being examined,” Stanford said. “One such alternative is graffiti abatement as a source of punishment.”

Stanford said he is “impressed and encouraged” by Vasquez’s proposed anti-graffiti program.

“It appears to be not only feasible but highly beneficial to the community. It could also offer a viable alternative to traditional sentencing and add to a few options the judges can now exercise in balancing punishment with public interest and safety,” he said. “We would appreciate being included in further efforts to implement such a program.”

Under Vasquez’s program, jail crews would be on call to clean up graffiti--much of it gang-related--in the county’s 29 cities. Vasquez said cities are now spending well over $1 million a year to erase the graffiti when that money could go to better use.

Using sentenced criminals could virtually eliminate labor costs, he said.