Measure will save lives and billions of dollars.

For Immediate Release: October 31, 2008

The leading Latino organizations in California and the nation have endorsed Proposition 5, which will cut state spending by $2.5 billion, allowing California to invest in its communities.

The National Council of La Raza, National Latino Congreso, Latino Issues Forum, and Latino Voters League, along with La Opinión — the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States — officially endorse Proposition 5, because it will reduce drug use, lessen racial disparities in the state’s criminal justice system, and lead to a more equitable California.

“Prison is not the answer for addicts. There, they graduate as criminals instead of recovering. This initiative will give them another chance,” La Opinión wrote in an editorial strongly endorsing Prop. 5.

Latino residents are overrepresented in California’s correctional system, making up 40 percent of both the state prison and parole populations. Prop. 5 gives treatment instead of prison to nonviolent drug offenders and nonviolent parolees, which will reduce drug use, crime, and the disproportionate incarceration of Latinos. In addition, Prop. 5 helps at-risk youth, ensuring that these young people do not enter prison in the first place.

Prop. 5 also guarantees that community-based treatment is culturally, linguistically and geographically appropriate, to ensure that needed services are delivered to communities that previously have not had access to them.

In the 1990s California built 21 prisons but only one public university. Prop. 5 breaks this disturbing trend; according to the state Legislative Analyst, Prop. 5 will save $2.5 billion in prison construction costs – money for education instead of cycling young people in and out of prison.

Click here to read La Opinión’s editorial.