L.A. Council Asks Legislature to Toughen Graffiti Penalties

In response to a spike in graffiti citywide, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted to lobby state lawmakers to boost punishment.

Most graffiti offenders are sentenced to community service, said Assistant City Atty. Martin Vranicar Jr. At the council’s order, the city legislative’s analyst office will submit to state legislators a proposal to permit mandatory jail sentences for second-time offenders.

The motion passed 10 to 2, amending a proposal by Councilman Hal Bernson to increase penalties for damaging or repeat violations.

“We’re going to have to have the courts in the state impose tougher sentences on repeat offenders,” Bernson said.

He said his proposal was in response to a “50% increase in graffiti since the first of the year throughout the city.”

Councilman Nate Holden, who opposed the original proposal, said he feels that current state law is already tough.

Proposition 21, passed in March, gives the district attorney the option of charging a defendant with a felony if damage in a single graffiti incident is more than $400. The proposition also raised the maximum sentence for a misdemeanor graffiti offense from six months to one year in county jail. The maximum $1,000 fine remained unchanged.