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https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/california-about-let-race-shockingly-tip-scales-justice

California is about to let race shockingly tip the scales of justice
California courts would be required to consider race when issuing a sentence
Chuck DeVore By Chuck DeVore | Fox News

California Task force proposes reparations
FOX Business correspondent Kelly O'Grady has the latest on California's
proposed reparations for Black Americans on 'Special Report.'

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California, that bellwether of the absurd, is about to do it again. The
same legislature that rejected legislation to add human trafficking of a
minor for purposes of a commercial sex act to the state’s list of
"serious" felonies – until public outrage prompted reconsideration – has
now seen the supermajority Democrats pass a bill out of the Assembly
that mandates consideration of race in criminal sentencing.

The California State Assembly voted Assembly Bill 852 out of the chamber
on a vote of 58 to 13 in May with all aye votes coming from Democrats.
The measure is now pending before the Public Safety Committee in the
Senate (critics call it the "Public Jeopardy Committee").

AB 852 grows out of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Reparations Task
Force. The bill requires California’s criminal courts to consider the
"disparate impact on historically disenfranchised and system-impacted
populations" when issuing a sentence.

Gavin Newsom speaking at bill signing ceremony.
AB 852 grows out of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Reparations Task
Force. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

In other words, two men with similar criminal histories, each convicted
of murder, would see different sentencing outcomes dependent on the
color of their skin—something one might have expected in the Jim
Crow-era South, but certainly not in present-day America.

Our justice system is supposed to punish individuals for what they do,
not for who they are – as President Biden’s son Hunter may be starting
to find out. Extending preferential treatment to a criminal based on
their race wrongly punishes individuals not benefiting from that
leniency. Further, the lack of punishment could be seen as excusing the
criminal act for which an individual is convicted.

Final reparations task force meeting in California gets heated: 'Time
for a divorce!'Video
Additionally, and especially now when the public’s perception of a
two-tier justice system is particularly acute, injecting race into our
justice system destroys public confidence in the judicial process and
injures the democratic ideal that we are all equal before the law.

Brett Tolman, a former U.S. attorney and executive director of Right On
Crime, a national conservative criminal justice campaign of the Texas
Public Policy Foundation, criticized the proposed law, noting, "Equity
sentencing is a direct violation of the 14th Amendment to the
Constitution and sets up the criminal justice system to fail. Lady
justice is blindfolded for a distinct reason – to not be persuaded by a
person’s sex or color of their skin or their religion to deliver a
disparate sentence."

Leo Terrell slams California reparations plan: 'Dead on arrival'Video
Tolman’s comments parallel the U.S. Supreme Court 1979 declaration in
Rose v. Mitchell that "Discrimination on the basis of race, odious in
all aspects, is especially pernicious in the administration of justice."

This echoes existing California law which states that a conviction or
sentence is unlawful if a defendant can prove that it was meted out on
the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin. Thus, AB 852 would be a
giant step backward.

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The Pacific Legal Foundation, based in Sacramento, has been sharply
critical of the bill. Andrew Quinio, one of the foundation’s attorneys,
said, "Using race to determine punishment is an outrageous violation of
the right to equal treatment under the law. AB 852’s requirement that
courts consider race in determining a criminal sentence undermines and
sows doubt in our justice system. It also revives an ugly stain in our
history when individuals could be punished because of their skin color.
For justice to be blind, it must also be color blind."

New York City crime victims testify before House panelVideo
The Reparations Task Force in California, a state that fought on the
side of the Union in the Civil War and in which no person lives today
who was either slave or master when the practice was still legal in
parts of the U.S., has also recommended that the state shutter 10
prisons in five years, repurposing the facilities to benefit African
Americans. But it’s clear that California’s prisons do benefit its Black
citizens – by protecting them and all the state’s residents from violent
criminals.

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Black Americans number just under 14% of the population but suffered 53%
of homicides in 2020, up 32% from the year before the advent of
defund-the-police, Black Lives Matter, and widespread urban unrest –
with 2,457 more murder victims compared to the year before. In a typical
year, 9 in 10 people who murder a Black American are themselves Black,
meaning going even easier on violent felons in California will most
likely end up resulting in more dead Black Californians.

But, in the twisted world of progressive grievance politics, it’s not
outcomes that matter, but loudly stated intentions – when logic and
reason die, people soon after get robbed, raped and murdered.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM CHUCK DeVORE

Chuck DeVore is a vice president with the Texas Public Policy
Foundation, was elected to the California legislature, is a retired U.S.
Army lieutenant colonel, and the author of the new book, "Crisis of the
House Never United."

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madeinamericama’am
1 day ago

This decision flies in the face of equal before the law and is contrary
to recent decisions by the Supreme Court upholding the Constitution.
Hopefully, it too will be overturned.

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27 replies

greenhornet565
1 day ago

That decision flies in the face of the 14th Amendment that States must
treat all their citizens equally. Time for SCOTUS to hear and rule
against California and any other State that tries to go down this road.

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515

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21 replies

mitmouse
1 day ago

Until CA agrees to abide by the Constitution of the U.S.A., they should
be summarily EXPELLED from the Union of States and be stripped of all of
its benefits and privileges— ENOUGH is ENOUGH. And the same goes for ANY
other State that fails to uphold the same or permits any metropolitan
commercial ...

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11 replies

fest3er1
1 day ago

We are two (almost 3) generations past when Republicans passed the Civil
Rights bill and ended discrimination. But Democrats still can’t let it go.

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288

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9 replies

hadenuff
1 day ago

"California courts would be required to consider race when issuing a
sentence."

I thought the whole point of equality and Justice for All was to NOT
consider race???

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340

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