Election 2024: Voters will decide on abortion, marijuana, slavery, sheriffs and more

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Election Day is Tuesday, and in localities and states across the country, criminal justice is on the ballot. This week, we’re bringing you a rundown of some of the ballot measures and local races that will shape the system.

Reproduction rights

Voters in 10 states will have the opportunity to approve measures to protect or expand legal access to abortion care. Since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022, similar efforts have taken place in other states. generally he was electorally successful.

In Nebraska, voters face dueling amendments. One would enshrine the current 12-week abortion ban in the state constitution, and another would protect access up to the point of fetal viability, which is generally considered to be about 24 weeks. If both amendments pass, the one with the most votes will become law.

Florida’s measure, which would guarantee legal abortion until the fetus is viable, has drew the ire of Gov. Ron DeSantis. His administration directed state funding to ads against the amendment and sent threatening letters to local television stations that aired advertisements in support of the proposal.

Legalization of Marijuana

DeSantis has, too directed state funding into his fight against Florida’s proposed Amendment 3, which would legalize recreational marijuana. The largest medical marijuana company in the state is as well pouring money into the fightturning it into the most expensive ballot initiative anywhere in the country. Legalization is also on the table in South Dakota, where voters previously approved it in 2020, but Gov. Kristi Noem successfully challenged the language of that initiative. A subsequent legalization attempt in 2022 failed.

Voters in North Dakota they also have a chance to legalize marijuana after a failed effort in 2022, while Nebraska voters will decide whether the state will become the 39th to make marijuana available for medical use.

Exceptions to slavery

Voters in California and Nevada will consider removing the language from their state constitutions which allow slavery or involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime. If successful, the pair will join states such as Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermontwhich all passed similar measures in 2022.

Most state constitutions include a clause similar to the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, which allows forced labor as punishment for a crime. This has long served as the legal basis for forcing incarcerated people to work for very low or no wages.

Previous efforts have not always been successful in changing the nature of prison work. At the beginning of this year, a a group of people incarcerated in Alabama filed a lawsuit against the state, alleging that people who refuse work assignments or who are fired from furlough jobs are routinely punished or threatened despite changes to the state constitution. A judge dismissed the case in August and is currently under appeal. In this case and others like it, much is about whether prison administrators revoking certain privileges amounts to coercion in a manner similar to slavery.

In California, supporters of the constitutional amendment hope it will entitles incarcerated persons to undergo rehabilitation programs instead of being required to do prison work and claim that this could lead to a decrease in the rate at which people who are released reoffend.

Border enforcement

Arizona voters will weigh the fate of Proposition 314which would make it a state crime for foreigners to cross the border anywhere but an official port of entry. Similar to Texas legislative effort known as SB4the proposal would allow Arizona agencies to enforce immigration laws that have traditionally been the sole responsibility of the federal government. Arizona’s Republican-led legislature passed a similar bill earlier this year, but it was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

Even if Proposition 314 passes, its border enforcement provisions cannot take effect until legal disputes over the Texas version are resolved. Most legal observers expect SB4 to eventually be decided by the US Supreme Court.

Critics of Proposition 314 note that it contains fewer guardrails than Texas law. Unlike SB4, Arizona’s measure does not prohibit arrests in places of religious worship, schools and health care facilities. Many also worry that it will lead to widespread racial profiling of people who appear to be Latino. Supporters counter that under the measure, law enforcement must see a person crossing the border to have probable cause to stop.

Sentence and remand

California voters will decide whether to toughen criminal penalties for some theft and drug crimes. Currently, theft of less than $950 is a misdemeanor, but Proposition 36 would makes theft of any amount an offence if a person already has two theft convictions. The initiative would also require people with multiple drug charges to complete treatment or serve time.

A criticism of this approach is that the proposal does not established funding to expand access to mandatory drug treatment programs. San Francisco Chronicle’s noted the editorial board last week“You can’t pressure people for a treatment that doesn’t exist. In 22 California counties, there are no residential treatment facilities. And there are long wait times almost everywhere.”

The effort is largely aimed at undoing the reforms that voters approved a decade ago is intended to reduce the state’s prison population. Viral footage of robberies revealed and smashed and general feelings of disturbance related to outdoor drug use and homeless encampments have generated a negative reaction to the reforms for many in the state.

Other sentencing initiatives include an effort in Arizona life without the possibility of parole is the mandatory sentence for persons convicted of child sex trafficking. In Colorado, Amendment 1 would grant state judges the ability to refuse bail to people who are charged with first degree murder.

District Attorney and Sheriff’s Races

Many of the same factors that drove California’s Proposition 36 also left elected prosecutors in several of the state’s major cities fighting for their political lives. Take George Gascón, who entered the Los Angeles district attorney’s office in 2020 with a wave of reforms aimed at making the justice system less punitive, mainly ending the use of cash bail and sentencing enhancements. Polls show him trailing challenger Nathan Hochman, who has billed himself as a “hard-of-the-middle” candidate, running to withdraw what he describes as Gascón’s “pro-criminal” excesses. Alameda County, where Oakland is located, is home to District Attorney Pamela Price in the face of a recall effort and similar characterizations of his approach to prosecutors.

In Florida, former circuit attorneys Monique Worrell and Andrew Warren are running for the district attorney positions they held before Gov. Ron DeSantis he started from the office. Legal battles over these moves are still ongoing, and DeSantis left the possibility open that if they are re-elected, he will kick them out again.

There are thorny and fascinating races for prosecutors and sheriffs across the country and We recommend checking out this in-depth guide from Bolts magazine to explore them in depth.