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California Passes Juvenile Crime Measure

HeadlineMar 08, 2000

Voters also came out strongly in favor of a measure that allows prosecutors, rather than juvenile court judges, to decide whether young people, aged fourteen to seventeen, are tried as adults. Voters also extended the circumstances under which the death penalty is warranted. The juvenile crime measure was sponsored by former Republican Governor Pete Wilson and corporations such as Chevron, Unocal and Transamerica. It also limits judges’ authority to refer young people to treatment or probation rather than locked facilities and requires adult prison sentences in most cases for sixteen-year-olds convicted of felonies in adult courts. An opposition leader called the measure a devastating blow to juveniles in California and said it will push thousands of nonviolent offenders into the criminal justice system.

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