California's prison-guards union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, has been one of the most dominant forces at the Capitol, but the passage of Prop. 36 (reforming the state's three-strikes law) might suggest that its power is subsiding. Prop. 36 was modest. California was the only state out of 24 that imposed a third strike if the last conviction was for a non-serious felony. Bringing its law in line with other three-strikes laws was not radical and there was no real opposition to the change. But the prison guards have wielded so much power because fear of crime led to a public-policy arms race. As I explain in my Orange County Register column, in 1998 the Democratic gubernatorial candidate -- later-to-be-recalled Gov. Gray Davis -- said in a debate that Singapore was a good starting point for its approach to criminal justice, as he tussled with law-and-order AG Dan Lungren. With crime falling to historic lows, voters are less afraid and perhaps less willing to give the guards union everything it wants. Maybe candidates will be less apt to pander to this group.
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