No to Proposition 36, a revival of failed and unfair policies – Daily News

For more than a decade, the pendulum of California’s criminal justice policy has swung from a tough-on-crime approach that prioritizes incarceration to one that emphasizes non-prison strategies.

In 2011, pending a US Supreme Court order in response to dangerous prison overcrowding, California lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 109 to move the treatment of non-violent offenders , non-serious and non-sexual from state prisons within the county.

In 2012, California voters coincidentally approved Proposition 36 to reform the state’s Three Strikes Law to require that the “third strike” that triggers a life sentence be a serious or violent crime.

In 2014, Californians passed Proposition 47 to reduce the criminal status of drug possession and lower-level theft offenses from felonies to misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in prison. The savings from the reduction in incarceration according to Prop. 47 were to be invested in crime prevention programs. To date, nearly $1 billion in these savings have been reinvested in effective crime prevention programs thanks to Prop. 47.

In 2016, Californians passed Proposition 57 to encourage inmates to participate in educational and rehabilitation programs while incarcerated. That same year, Californians voted overwhelmingly to legalize marijuana through Proposition 64.

All along, law enforcement groups and Republican lawmakers opposed these reforms, arguing that they were soft on crime and would free criminals to destroy our communities. Reported crimes remained at or near record lows throughout this period.

In 2020, California voters rejected Proposition 20, which sought to toughen penalties for theft crimes and toughen aspects of Prop. 57, among other changes.

Four years later, the mood has clearly changed. In part, this is because criminal trends have changed. Homicides in the state increased from an all-time low of 1,679 in 2019 to 2,361 in 2021. Motor vehicle thefts increased from a low of 140,732 in 2019 to a high of 195,853 in 2023. And while that the jump in reported robberies from 4,285 to 707,560,414 in 2023 doesn’t seem like much, all Californians have seen their share of viral videos showing flash mobs brazenly stealing.

Although reported shoplifting dropped from 622,869 in 2019 to 560,414 in 2023, law-abiding Californians are resentful of seeing merchandise in closed stores in response. At some CVS locations, this includes toothpaste. Californians don’t see the reported crime statistics, they see what’s in front of them.

The critics of Prop. 47 and other criminal justice reforms have particularly taken advantage of this, often misleading the public into thinking that Prop. 47 has something to do with racketeering and organized retail theft (in fact, these crimes already carry a serious crime). crimes).

To be sure, Democratic leaders have also been anything but inspiring. Last year, we saw reform-minded lawmakers reject a bill to toughen penalties for child sex traffickers, then suddenly change their minds after their votes were exposed on social media. This year, we’ve seen an increasingly irresponsible Gov. Gavin Newsom and his Democratic colleagues in the Legislature try to tinker with the politics of justice. The public has naturally come away convinced that Sacramento’s politicians are incapable of taking public safety seriously.

Perception matters, and it is clear that Californians perceive a growing crime problem and an inability of politicians to deal with this problem.

It’s in this environment that voters are considering Proposition 36, backed by law-and-order groups that have opposed criminal justice reforms all along. Proponents of Proposition 36 say the measure would reduce homelessness, theft and addiction. His proposal, in short: Threaten people arrested for drug possession with up to three years in state prison unless they plead guilty and successfully complete treatment, and impose longer sentences on people who commit low-level theft and even longer sentences for drug dealers and organized thieves.

Electoral measures are all or nothing. Vote for the whole package.

Many of the provisions in this measure are sure to be popular or difficult to vote against, including tougher penalties for organized thieves or people who sell drugs that contribute to someone’s death. But a vote on the measure is also a vote on very outdated ideas: filling our prisons with people for simple drug possession and tackling homelessness by locking up those with drug problems or those who commit low-level theft.

It is for these reasons that we oppose Proposition 36, which is called the “Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act.”

California can and should do a better job of addressing homelessness, theft crimes, and drug addiction. That is, by making it much easier to build more housing, continue to pursue theft to the fullest extent of the law, and make sure that Californians can get help for drug addiction.