USAC members capture campus opinion on tape

Published: Thursday, December 4, 1997

Wednesday, December 3, 1997

PRISONS:

Council's goals included awareness of state spending prioritiesBy Dennis Lim

Daily Bruin Contributor

Armed with two cameras, an arsenal of video tapes and a set of four standard questions, a small group of Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) representatives campaigned around campus last Tuesday to quiz students on prison spending as compared to education spending.

The representatives among them USAC President Kandea Mosley asked students, staff, faculty and visitors what their thoughts and ideas were about the subject.

"Do you think that crime has gone up in the last 20 years?" Mosley asked her first interviewee. "Do you know how much prison spending has gone up compared to education spending? If you had the chance to be on the floor of the state legislature, would you petition your representatives to spend money for more prisons or for more schools?"

These questions, along with a slew of facts concerning the current condition of schools and prisons, brought about many similar responses.

"Of course I'd spend more money on schools," one interviewee said. "If we spend more money on schools then maybe people could get an education and not have the need to do crime and go to jail."

Another interviewee agreed: "The more accessibility people have to an education, the less likely they will have a need to commit crime in the first place."

Others, including one university police officer interviewed, gave a very different response.

"I'd spend more money on prisons," the officer said. "Prisons help keep us safe. They keep those who commit crimes away from those of us who don't."

Though such responses disheartened the group, what was most important to the representatives was that they made people on campus think about the issue of prison spending.

"Our real purpose in doing this is to raise awareness on campus and make people more educated for the elections next year," said Albert Retana, one of the USAC organizers.

In addition to educating students, USAC officials also wanted to educate elected officials about student opinion.

"We want to keep a record so that if we ever do have the opportunity to present to the legislature, we will have something that shows what people really think about the issue," he continued.

"We also wanted a chance to talk one-on-one with students," Mosley added. "We wanted to let them know what was happening and show them what student government does for the student body."

Supporters of increased prison spending, however, cite a rising prison population, not just in California, but throughout the nation. Also, they purport that a "get-tough" stance, which includes longer prison sentences, decreases crime in the long run through an increased fear of punishment.

Much of what was exchanged during the interviews were discussions of the current policies on spending priorities. One of the pamphlets handed out by the representatives stated that prison spending had out-paced education spending in 1995 and has seen a 78 percent increase since then.

USAC representatives claimed the increase was due to the establishment of longer prison sentences for less violent crimes.

"Crime in general is going down, but our prisons are getting overcrowded," said Cori Sheppard, USAC project coordinator for the president's office.

"Why? Because laws like 'Three Strikes You're Out' keep non-violent offenders in prison. Nearly 70 percent of prisoners are in prison for non-violent offenses."