Local officials and religious leaders last week urged California voters to vote "No" on Proposition 6, a state initiative that would create multiple new crimes and additional penalties, some with the potential for new life sentences.

Tony Cárdenas, Los Angeles City councilmember, said Sept. 26 that the prison system budget continues to balloon, because "voters reward politicians to be punishing and not to be smart on crime."

He observed that the annual California prison budget has grown from $5 to $10 billion in only seven years. Proposition 6, he said, would essentially cut money from social programs to increase the incarceration of at-risk youth involved with gangs and to try them in adult courts. The initiative will cost $1 billion the first year and $500 million per year thereafter.

"It's important to go to the ballot box and let politicians know that Proposition 6 is wrong," said Cárdenas. "Proposition 6 almost exclusively only applies to poor children. It targets kids in tough neighborhoods."

The councilmember spoke as a panelist during the 14th annual archdiocesan Public Policy Breakfast in Watts which focused on the juvenile justice system. The breakfast was sponsored by the archdiocesan Justice and Peace Commission.

Jesuit Father Greg Boyle, who runs the largest gang intervention program in the country, added that it is "morally flawed to try juveniles as adults." The logic of the state initiative, he said, is to scare young people and deter them from breaking the law. However, crime isn't committed by youth who "aren't scared enough," said the priest. Crime is committed by youth who "aren't hopeful enough."

"No one has ever met a hopeful kid who joined a gang," said Father Boyle. "You can't terrify a kid into hope.

"We need to invest in kids instead of continuously seeking to incarcerate our way out of this problem," said the priest, whose organization Homeboy Industries offers jobs to at-risk youth and those seeking to get out of gangs. Intervention programs are critical, he added, because gang members have a lot of influence on younger kids in a neighborhood.

The public policy forum with Cardinal Roger Mahony took place at the Roy W. Roberts II Watts/Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club to highlight that a holistic approach to working with at-risk youth is a more effective deterrent to crime.

Les Jones, head of the boys and girls club, noted that the club is a safe place for young people to play sports and have fun.

"How do you spell love to a child? T-I-M-E," he said, observing that spending time with a child increases their sense of hope and their sense of having a future.

Personal testimony was given by Marlon Rivera who recounted how growing up in a dysfunctional family in a tough neighborhood led to his joining a gang and committing felony crimes. By age 15 he faced the possibility of spending decades in prison, but the testimony of a priest speaking to a more compassionate judge helped him to receive about a five-year sentence.

Rivera credited Jesuit Father Mike Kennedy with being present to him during his most difficult moments, after which the young man realized that someone "really believed in me." Upon his release, he attended and graduated from Santa Clara University and is currently pursuing a law degree at Pepperdine University. Rivera has volunteered to mentor elementary school children and has taught creative writing and videography to at-risk teenagers.

Rivera said with current laws lengthening the penalties for gang activity, he's seen youth receive sentences of 55 years, 65 years and even 155 years. He said instead of increased incarceration, young offenders need more opportunities for education.

The California Catholic Conference of bishops is publicly opposing Proposition 6 because it advances a punitive rather than a restorative justice model for dealing with crime.

Cardinal Mahony said that faith values need to underpin the justice system for it to be more effective. "Punishment alone does not change a person," said the cardinal. "Punishment must have a constructive purpose based on human life and dignity."

The cardinal advocates a restorative justice system that protects the common good, rehabilitates the offender and brings healing to the victim.

Pastor Ruett Foster of Community Bible Church of Culver City was among the nearly 200 people attending the policy breakfast. In 1997 he and his wife Rhonda lived through the ordeal of their seven-year-old son Evan being killed by gangfire that struck the family's car as they were driving to a community park in Inglewood. Their 10-month old son Alec sustained eye injuries that required surgery.

After grieving their son's death and receiving counseling as victims of crime, he and his wife developed a foundation through which they speak to youth in prison to help them rehabilitate their lives.

"It is the victims whose voice is very powerful and very necessary in this whole rehabilitation and this whole restorative aspect of justice," Pastor Foster told The Tidings.

While he believes that youth have to face the consequences of their crimes, he added the Proposition 6 is "counter-productive."

"We wouldn't be able to build prisons fast enough if we just take the young person and treat them like an adult," he said.

Pastor Foster said his approach with incarcerated youth is to "bring that touch of humanity back to their mindset. There is a possible road to recovery." He tells youth, "I love you in the Lord. I don't come in here to insult you or to denigrate you. I come in here to instill hope in a seemingly hopeless situation."

The pastor said when he does this ministry, "I watch their eyes go from guarded and glazed over to warm and welcoming."

As a victim of crime, he added, "it's just essential that the person who was really wounded and taken advantage of becomes empowered and is able to give back truth and love and empowerment to those who have offended."

Editor's note: The archdiocesan Office of Restorative Justice can offer assistance to parishes wanting to organize speakers or educational presentations on Proposition 6. For information, call Javier Stauring at (213) 438-4820.