Council splits on tougher graffiti penalties; amendments on juveniles and 'third strikes' advance

The Los Angeles City Council conducted an extended debate over proposed changes to penalties for repeated graffiti/tagging offenses, including whether aggregated offenses should be elevated to felonies for adults and how juveniles should be treated.

A public speaker who identified himself as a long-time graffitist described frustration with taggers and cited the city's cleanup costs. Councilmembers offered competing perspectives: some urged stronger penalties and aggregation for repeat adult offenders, while others opposed creating felony records for youth and favored enhanced misdemeanor penalties and rehabilitative options. Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas and others proposed an amendment to make any felony application count only for adults and to avoid counting such aggregated graffiti felonies as a 'third strike' under California's three-strikes rules. Councilmember Holden offered an amendment specifying that repeated-offender time would be served in county jail rather than state prison; the council approved that amendment on a roll call (clerk recorded 12 ayes).

The council later divided the question and approved several elements (including higher misdemeanor penalties and limiting felony application to adults), but when the full amended item was placed on a final roll it did not pass: the clerk recorded 7 ayes and 3 noes and the item failed to carry at this meeting. Councilmembers who opposed the final measure emphasized the low arrest rate for graffiti vandals and urged alternatives such as increased fines, more restorative cleanup and youth rehabilitation programs.