FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ASUC SENATE ENDORSES PROP 36 COMMITTEE REJECTS PROP 34

UC Berkeley, October 17th: The ASUC Senate passed Senate Bill 84 to endorse Proposition 36, a November ballot measure to reform the Three Strikes law. The bill was co-authored by CalSERVE Senators Sidronio Jacobo and Daley Vertiz, and Wendy Pacheco, a Co-Facilitator of RAZA Caucus. On Monday night, the University & External Affairs Committee of the Senate rejected a companion bill by Vertiz and Jacobo to endorse Proposition 34, the measure to repeal Californias death penalty. In place since 1994, Three Strikes automatically assigns a life sentence to offenders with two prior violent convictions, regardless of the severity of the third offense. The impact on communities of color is dramatic: according to the Justice Policy Institute, the incarceration rates under Three Strikes among Latin@ and black communities are 82% and 1,300% higher than in white communities, respectively. If passed, Prop 36 would lower the severity of the third strike sentence from life to double the ordinary sentence, give current inmates serving life under Three Strikes the opportunity to appeal for a less severe sentence, and allow a third strike sentence to be applied only to serious or violent crimes. Proposition 34 would also alter Californias sentencing code by changing the maximum criminal penalty from death to LWOP. A decades-long moral and political quandary, the death penalty in California has proven itself to be ineffective in preventing crime or improving prison overcrowding. Instead, the death penalty keeps inmates awaiting execution for decades and risks killing innocent people. According to New Media, people of color constitute nearly twothirds of the death row population. The Senate passed SB 84 on the consent calendar. On Monday, University & External Affairs Committee members voted 4-0-2 to move the bill to the full Senate. CalSERVE Mobilizing Coordinators Austin Pritzkat and Devonte Jackson are running a campaign through November 6th to educate students about the measures on this years ballot. Register to vote at http://californiastudentvote.org and pledge your votes for Props 34 and 36 at http://calserve.org/issues-campaigns! For more information, please contact: Daley Vertiz! ASUC Senator! CalSERVE! dvertiz@asuc.org! Sidronio Jacobo! ASUC Senator! CalSERVE! sjacobo@asuc.org! Matthew Enger Communications Coordinator CalSERVE calserve.communications@gmail.com