Conroy Wants Paddle Opinion Reconsidered
Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) is asking the chief attorney for the Legislature to reconsider his legal opinion that paddling graffiti vandals as punishment for their crimes would be unconstitutional.
Inspired by the caning in Singapore of an American teen-ager convicted of vandalizing cars, Conroy has proposed a bill that calls for juvenile offenders guilty of graffiti crimes to receive up to 10 whacks on the buttocks with a wooden paddle. The bill, AB 150 X, is scheduled to be heard today before the Assembly Committee on Public Safety.
However, the controversial bill has run into opposition. Legislative Counsel Bion Gregory issued an opinion May 31 concluding that the Conroy bill would violate the federal and state constitutions, which outlaw cruel and unusual punishment.
In a letter to Gregory on Monday, Conroy said he disagreed with Gregory’s legal interpretation.
“The assemblyman is concerned that the legislative counsel may not have spent enough time researching this subject so we had some research done on our own,” said Pete Conaty, Conroy’s chief of staff.
Conaty said the Republican consultant found that strictly monitored paddling of juveniles would not necessarily constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
