IT'S TIME TO START GETTING SMART ON CRIME

California is obsessed with being tough on crime. It's time to start
getting smart on crime.

Lawmakers can do that today by approving Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's
plan to trim the state's prison population by 37,000 inmates over the
next two years, saving taxpayers $1.2 billion. The Senate is on board.
The Assembly needs to concur.

California is facing financial ruin. Its schools are making
devastating cuts that could put a whole generation of children at a
competitive disadvantage "" and at higher risk of turning to crime.
Yet it spends 10 percent of its general fund on prisons, about the
same amount as on higher education but still not nearly enough to
adequately house its 167,000 prisoners. That would take billions more.

Two weeks ago a panel of federal judges ordered the state to slash the
inmate population by about one-quarter within two years, or the judges
would do it for us. California, which has one of the highest
incarceration rates in the world, houses inmates in conditions the
courts have ruled cruel and unusual punishment. The recent 12-hour
riot at the Chino prison illustrates the problem. It houses 5,900
inmates in a facility designed for 3,000.

The court ruling will be a gift if it returns the state to a sane
approach to crime.

Republican lawmakers pretend there is a reasonable alternative to the
governor's plan, but there is not. They're scared to death of being
labeled "soft on crime," and Advertisement Quantcast they're
threatening to pin that label on Democrats who vote for the
legislation. A handful of Democrats are cowering at the prospect.

They need to grow a backbone and do the right thing, even if the
Republicans will not. Anybody who votes against this plan should be
labeled soft in the head.

Prisoners are going to be released. It's far better for state
officials to control how it's done rather than leave it to the judges,
who are farther removed from local communities.

The place to start is the system's recidivism rate, one of the highest
in the nation. Thousands of California prisoners are locked up at a
cost of $27,000 each per year for technical violations, such as
missing an appointment with a parole officer, not for committing new
crimes. That's running up the public's bill without making anyone safer.

The idea of putting GPS bracelets on thousands of non-violent
prisoners also would save the state millions and keep the convicts
from committing additional crimes that would land them in county
jails, which are already overflowing.

Local law enforcement officials are concerned about aspects of the
governor's plan, especially as it might affect local costs, since the
state is already raiding local government revenue.

Republicans and Democrats should be working together to address those
concerns. But the plan on the table is prudent, given the state's
financial predicament.

There is no magical way for California to keep locking up more and
more of its residents without paying the price to house them.

Does anyone really want to further cut schools, or human services, to
open more prisons?

Lawmakers can blame the courts for having to make tough choices this
week. But they ought to be thanking them.