SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 10 -- An effort to allow public paddling of graffiti vandals was turned back Wednesday in the California Assembly. Under the proposal by Assemblyman Mickey Conroy, R-Orange, vandals would have received up to 10 whacks with a hardwood paddle for their crimes. It fell one vote short of approval in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and the lawmaker received permission for a second vote later this month. The bill was inspired by the disputed four-stroke caning of American Michael Fay in Singapore earlier this year as part of his sentence for vandalism. It called for the public paddling in an open courtroom of anyone under the age of 18 convicted of graffiti vandalism. Defendants would have received between four and 10 strokes with a hardwood paddle one-half of an inch thick and a whacking area of 6-by-18 inches. The sentence would have to be carried out by either a parent or court bailiff. Conroy said the measure could curtail vandalism and save state and local governments hundreds of millions of dollars a year in graffiti abatement. 'It is time California says 'enough is enough,'' Conroy said. 'By authorizing the paddling of graffiti vandals, California is sending a message that there is a consequence for your actions.' Opponents, including the California PTA and several children's advocacy groups, said the measure was an inappropriate way to address vandalism and argued that the approach would only condone the use of violence to settle problems. In response to a support witness who flew in from Atlanta to testify about the psychological effects of paddling, an angry Assemblywoman Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, compared the measure to the lynching of blacks in the South.
'If we approve this bill, we in California will be opening the door to court sanctioned-government sanctioned violence,' Lee said. 'We are trying to teach our people nonviolent approaches to problems and paddling sends a message that violence is OK.'
