The selling of Prop 57: victims do not matter

by George Hofstetter
George
Hofstetter
Law Enforcement and prosecutors know that all too often in the criminal justice system, victims are an afterthought for a system focused on the defendant, the defendant's rights, and what punishment or "rehabilitation" can be offered the defendant
 
Proposition 57 doubles down on the discarding of victims by the criminal justice system.  It does so by allowing state prison inmates to escape prison sentences imposed as punishment for their crimes by a Judge via early parole.
 
It isn't, however, only the criminal justice system where the victims do not matter.  In selling the Proposition 57 story of a "needed change" in the criminal justice system, victims are barely even an afterthought.  One recent story typifies this in an infuriating fashion.
 
The story by KQED reporter Laura Klivans  discussed Prop 57 and its removal if passed of the District Attorney's power to directly file cases against juveniles in adult court.  The story features a 21-year-old man named Daniel Mendoza who after an initial direct file in adult court, was returned to juvenile court and sentenced for murder.
 
Why was this story an inexcusable dismissal of a victim?  Many reasons.  First, the human being that was the victim of this 21-year-old man's crime was noted in the story only as "an older man."  That "older man" who was viciously murdered had a name:  Jose Marie Barajas Apparently, mentioning the name of the murder victim would have interrupted the portrait the reporter wanted to paint. 
 
Next, the description of what this 21-year-old man and his five friends did to Mr. Barajas was, to put it mildly, given as bland a description as could be.  According to the Klivans story, the crime occurred when, "Mendoza and his friends got into a fight with an older man. The group ended up killing the man."
 
Really?  Not even close! Read the description of what happened from the local paper that reported this murder.  When you read the story by Todd Guild in the Register-Pajaronian , Mendoza wasn't with just "his friends;" he was with five other members of his gang who were angry that Mr. Barajas had entered the gang's "territory."
 
"Barajas called 911 as he tried to outrun his attackers, but eventually was caught. Emergency workers then heard a series of thumps  over the phone. During his testimony, Fulgoni described seeing about 15 people standing on the levee near where Barajas was lying. When he came closer, he said he saw several injuries on Barajas, including bruises, and a wound to his neck that was 'gushing' blood. Fulgoni also said he saw a broken bottle, tree branches and metal pipes lying nearby, which probably were used as weapons. "It was an incredibly vicious murder ," Rowland said. The victim was hit on the head a minimum of five times. He was stabbed three times and was hit a number of times with a pipe and branches."  (Rowland was the Deputy District Attorney prosecuting the case) .


So, for the narrative of Prop 57, the brutal beat down murder of a man literally running for his life and trying to escape six gang members bent on killing him is spun by the pro-Prop 57 crowd and a reporter as "a fight with an older man" that ended in a "killing."  

Victims are often ignored in crime related stories because the mention of the victim is necessary only to establish that a crime occurred.  What actually occurred becomes tangential to the focus on the defendant.

Should Prop 57 pass, one can only imagine, the sanitized version of crimes inmates and their attorneys will tell the parole board as they seek early release via parole.  Not only will victims not know of these hearings, you can bet that they won't even be an afterthought when the parole decisions are made.
 
As I previously wrote , it is time for an honest discussion on Prop 57 .

George Hofstetter is President of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs. ALADS is the collective bargaining agent and represents more than 8,200 deputy sheriffs and district attorney investigators working in Los Angeles County.  George can be contacted at ghofstetter@alads.org.
 
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