Governor Vows Showdown on Juvenile Crime Bills

Gov. Pete Wilson complained Tuesday that Democrats in the Legislature have dismantled his initiatives against juvenile crime, and he and a group of Republican lawmakers vowed to turn the issue into an election-year showdown.

Wilson said he will reintroduce the same bills that Democrats rejected or modified, to give his opponents a “second chance” to pass them. And he repeated his plan to put the ideas in a November ballot initiative if the legislation does not pass.

“We call on the Legislature to do the duty they owe to the people of California--to stand up for every citizen who deserves genuine protection from crime and violence perpetrated by youthful dangerous criminals,” Wilson said at a Capitol news conference.

Wilson’s anti-crime package is designed to stiffen treatment of youthful offenders. Among its provisions are expansion of the death penalty to include gang-related murders and increasing to life in prison the sentence for a variety of gang-related crimes including witness intimidation, carjacking, drive-by shootings and home invasion robberies.

In the courts, the governor would make it easier to prosecute juveniles as adults. And to help police track gang members, Wilson wants expanded use of wiretaps and a requirement that every gang member convicted of a felony register with authorities annually after release.

Democrats attributed the governor’s announcement Tuesday to election-year politics, especially since his news conference was scheduled for the same day that state Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) was touring California to announce his candidacy for attorney general.

But privately they also acknowledged that the issue has divided the party, with some Democrats suggesting they are close to a compromise with the governor and others insisting that Wilson’s approach is unacceptably punitive and ineffective.

Wilson and the Republican lawmakers hope to capitalize on that debate by spotlighting the issue. At the news conference Tuesday, the governor was joined by 16 supporters of his anti-crime package, including victims rights groups, law enforcement officers, GOP legislators and state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, who is the leading Republican candidate for governor.

Just one day earlier, Lungren announced new statistics showing that California’s crime rate has dropped more in the last four years than at any other time in the state’s history.

Lungren said juvenile crime has also dropped, although not as sharply. Still, he joined Wilson in suggesting that reforms are needed because too many youthful offenders do not fear the consequences of illegal behavior.

Wilson first introduced his package of 10 juvenile crime bills last year. Tuesday he said seven of the 10 were killed in committee and three were unacceptably altered.

But Democratic leaders said Tuesday that they do not expect the governor’s proposals to be handled differently the second time around. As before, they predicted that the plans would be modified in the Assembly but probably killed in the more liberal Senate Public Safety Committee.

“Government by intimidation does not impress me,” said state Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara), chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee.

Wilson “believes people are evil and the more you can scare them and frighten them to get them to behave, the better,” he said.

Sandy Harrison, spokesman for Lockyer, said the Senate leader believes that the governor’s bills are “too punitive, too expensive and impractical an approach to juvenile crime.”

The tone from Democrats in the Assembly, however, was much different.

Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), chairman of the Assembly Public Safety Committee, said Wilson might now accept the amendments that were added last year.