[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

There are studies after studies of academics, a Committee headed by a former law and order Republican Governor, and bipartisan groups such as the state's Little Hoover Commission decrying the ceaseless ratcheting up of the years of punishment for crime in this state since we adopted a "determinate" sentencing law in 1976. You can see a stack of them in the picture to the left. California's newspapers have recognized this problem and there have been a number of editorials on this of late.

Republicans have been the main culprits in the thirty years war in this state to prove they are the toughest on crime. Their behavior reminds me of George Wallace, the segregationist Governor of Alabama, a Democrat, who after losing an election early on vowed to never be "outsegged" again.

Whether it is through ballot propositions or the dozens of bills to increase sentences they introduce every year, they try to intimidate Democrats in marginal districts into this game of one-upmanship. They complain of bills being held up in committee if they don't get that way. When sentences are increased one year, they are back next year trying to up the ante. To quote a phrase, "There ain't enough red meat to feed that alligator."