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Mark Twain once spoke about a farmer who, when his town
in old California was presented with the choice of building a new jail
or its first school, even though the town sheriff pointed out the jail
was cheaper to build, the farmer spoke in favor of the school because,
“if we don’t build the school… we’ll soon need two of those jails…” We
have much to learn from that wise farmer…
It is no coincidence we have seen a dramatic increase in gang violence
at the same time we see increases in our high school dropout rates. Known
criminals are allowed to freely cross our borders, and youth drug abuse
is still a major problem. These issues must be addressed to solve the
problem of gang violence.
Beyond the problems of education and illegal immigration, we as a society
must also take a very hard line against gang violence. Being a member
of a gang is being a member of a criminal enterprise. The first step towards
a solution is to admit this simple truth, and treat gang members as such.
While education will always be key, we still must enforce and strengthen
existing gang interdiction programs, obtain and enforce laws and restraining
orders against gang activities including congregation in parks and other
areas where the public is placed at risk. We must enforce laws which prohibit
convicted gang members from associating with ‘known criminals and parolees…”
We must make it clear there is no ‘three strikes’ when a gang member commits
an act of violence against any innocent victim simply to ‘make his bones…’
or to protect his turf. Gang violence and gang crime simply will not be
tolerated...
Although I applaud the continued decreases in non-gang related crime,
there is still much more that we need to do to protect society. Three
strikes must be applied with common sense… too often three strikes is
one too many… sometimes even two strikes are too many when innocence suffers.
With your help and support, I will propose and work for a Capital Assault
statute which will make it easier to imprison for life violent predators
the first time they strike. Although three strikes is sometimes misused
for political purposes, I would amend the law to allow those on parole
who commit a violent crime TO BE IMPRISONED FOR LIFE.
With your help and support, I will make it possible AND MANDATORY to
imprison sexual predators until they are no longer a threat to our children,
our wives and sisters, even our sons and our daughters. Currently, there
is no cure for sexual predators… I will make sure society is protected.
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VoteRalph2008 Committee
ID # 1282013
3790 Florida Street, #AG06
San Diego, CA 92104
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