Free Republic

STOCKTON — Law enforcement officials and defense attorneys in San Joaquin County remain divided over a controversial law that was approved by California voters in the November election. Proposition 47, also known as the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,” has reduced several felony crimes to misdemeanor offenses, resulting in lesser penalties for certain drug possession and property crimes. Voters approved the law with nearly 60 percent of the vote, but 22 of the state’s 58 counties voted against it, including San Joaquin, Calaveras and Amador counties. The law calls for misdemeanor sentences for drug possession, petty theft, receiving stolen property...

They turned up the heat on the politics of crime Wednesday over an initiative likely to appear on the November ballot aimed at gangs and guns. Opponents said the "Safe Neighborhoods" act targets African American and Latino youth and that its backers are trying to fire up "ultraconservatives" to turn out for the presidential election. Proponents denied a political motivation. They said their initiative is just as much about prevention and programs as it is about putting people in prison. Last week, supporters of the measure sponsored by state Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, submitted signatures to the California secretary of...

City gets $650,000 to fight gun crime Mayor and police chief are figuring out how to use surprise funds BY DAVID RESS TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 24, 2005 Everyone should have a rich uncle like this: Richmond's is named Sam, and he cut the city a surprise check for $650,000 yesterday to fight gun violence. The money is from the Bush administration's "Project Safe Neighborhoods" and amounts to a little more than half the funds allocated to Paul J. McNulty, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. "This was unsolicited," Mayor L. Douglas Wilder said. "It took us totally...

Maine Pursues Federal Firearms Violators 6/29/2004 In the past three years, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maine prosecuted more federal firearms violations than nearly any district in the country, the Portland Press Herald reported June 28. According to Paula Silsby, U.S. attorney for Maine, gun prosecutions increased by more than 100 percent since 2001, making the state one of the top five federal court districts in the country for prosecuting certain federal firearms offenses. Silsby attributed the increase in federal firearms prosecutions to Project Safe Neighborhoods, a federal program aimed at curbing urban street crime. "Gun violence isn't really an...