Costly Impact of Prop. 184

* Thank you for your editorial, “ ‘Three Strikes’ Worries” (Oct. 12). This isthe biggest overreaction to a social problem that California has ever seen. What the public does not think about is the long-term impact of the law on everyone’s civil liberties and the systems that we all use.

Not only will the “three-strikes law” destroy a declining education system, but I am told that no civil cases will be heard in the Santa Monica courts and Los Angeles will be permanently backlogged. Californians will have to pick up the AFDC costs for children whose mothers and/or fathers have been sentenced to life.

I administer a nonprofit organization that provides long-term transitional housing for men and woman veterans who have histories of substance abuse. In the past few weeks we have received several calls from veterans in jail who could be facing 25 to life. One caller explained that he had been a heroin addict since he was 14. He had a dysfunctional family and had been locked in closets by his mother when he was a child. He began to cry when he said, “I am not a criminal, I am a heroin addict with behavior problems and I don’t deserve to spend 25 years to life in prison because my substance abuse problem has never been addressed. I have never hurt anyone except myself.”

He told me that the prison system did not address substance abuse and that he used more drugs while inside prison than he did when he was on the outside. He was begging me to help him get a chance at getting clean and sober and to live a productive life.

The people of California have convicted and sentenced every veteran, disabled person and poor soul, who was not given a chance at life with loving parents and a support network. This population was doomed at birth, and the residents of the Golden State will sacrifice their children’s education, the justice system and the quality of life to make sure that everyone, not just violent offenders, is sent away forever. I agree that violent offenders should be given maximum sentences, but Proposition 184 is overkill and residents of California will pay the price for life.

TONI REINIS

Executive Director

New Directions

Los Angeles