Budget Over Safety?

In 2007, with California prisons facing an overcrowding crisis, the Senate Public Safety Committee under the leadership of Senator Gloria Romero began a policy known as “Receivership/Overcrowding Crisis Aggravation”, known as ROCA.

ROCA, an informal policy practiced by subsequent chairmen of the Public Safety Committee, prevents the committee from considering any pieces of legislation that would increase the prison population.

According to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, ROCA can hinder efforts to address important criminal issues.

“Money rather than justice is driving things,” said Wagstaffe.

Wagstaffe explains that since 2007, only high-profile cases brought to the attention of the media can lead to an exception to that rule.

One such example is Chelsea’s Law, signed by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2010 in response to the case of Chelsea King, a teenager killed by a sex offender.

The law stated that anyone convicted of certain sex offenses against children would receive life in prison without parole. Though the law seemingly increased the prison population, a trade-off was madeby releasing other prisoners.

Wagstaffe expressed concern that in other less sensational cases, such as the issue of elder abuse, ROCA prevents effective action from being done to curb the problem. In the 1990s before the prison overcrowding situation, Wagstaffe says, bills addressing elder abuse would likely have easily passed.

Oakland Senator Loni Hancock, the current Chair of the Public Safety Committee, has continued the policy set by her predecessors, according to her Chief of Staff Hans Hermann.

Hermann insists that though the situation is unfortunate, crime rates have dropped since 2007, casting doubt upon the idea that safety is at risk from limiting the inmate population.

Carlos Alcala, spokesperson for San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, expressed concern over the value of prison in reducing crime.

“We have found over the years that adding to the prison population has not made society safer.”

Alcala added that the ban on increasing the prison population may have the potential benefit, in the eyes of Assemblyman Ammiano, of encouraging greater emphasis on rehabilitation and other more effective punishments.

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