For far too long, politicians have pinned their political success to “getting tough on crime” and adopting retribution as the primary, and often sole, response to crime.
Capitalizing on our natural, tribal instinct to punish out-groups (those who don’t conform to our own identity as law-abiding citizens), politicians have long sought to enact heavy-handed legislation to crack down on criminals, with often devastating effects to people of color or those of lower socio-economic status. To appease the public’s thirst for retribution, politicians have aggressively imposed “tough on crime” policies by introducing three-strikes laws, mandatory minimums, the death penalty and chipping away at the juvenile justice system.
Often times, conservative leaders advocated for such policies in order to supplant social welfare policies with social control policies. However, Proposition 47 is a radical departure from the perilous trajectory that we’ve been on for the past quarter of a century, and thus, we should all make sure to vote yes on this measure come election day.
Proposition 47 has three elements. First, it would reduce “nonserious and nonviolent property and drug crimes” from a felony to a misdemeanor (felonies are punishable by up to a year in prison whereas the sentences for misdemeanors may not exceed one year). The crimes that would be reclassified categorically as misdemeanors include shoplifting, certain forms of grand theft, forgery, fraud and writing a bad check, provided that the value does not exceed $950. Additionally, it would reclassify possession of most illegal drugs as a misdemeanor.
The measure would open up a three-year window by which offenders incarcerated for these crimes could petition for their sentences to be reduced; according to Lenore Anderson, a former prosecutor and Executive Director of Californians for Safety and Justice, approximately 10,000 inmates would be eligible for resentencing.
Finally, Proposition 47 would direct the savings that will result from decreasing the prison population towards creating a “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund.” The savings from this measure is estimated to be a staggering $150 million to $250 million per year, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.
These funds will be allocated towards institutions and services that have proven time and again to reduce recidivism (re-offending): these include mental health and drug treatment programs, truancy reduction programs in K–12 schools, re-entry support and support for crime victims.
Proposition 47 will provide immense benefits to California for a litany of reasons. It will allow us to stop wasting prison space on non-violent offenders. This is crucial, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2011 decision in “Brown v. Plata.” The decision found that adequate health care was lacking so much as a result of prison overcrowding that it violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
As of February of this year, California’s prisons were operating at 144 percent of capacity, according to the New York Times.
The measure will dramatically improve public safety by ensuring that violent and serious offenders, such as rapists, murderers and child molesters stay in prison. It will free up resources and allow law enforcement to direct their efforts towards targeting these more serious crimes.
Additionally, it will eliminate the collateral consequences of many convictions for low-level crimes; collateral consequences are penalties that linger long-after completion of prison-time in areas such as housing, employment and voting. These often unforeseen consequences are fundamentally antithetical to our goal of reintegrating offenders into civil society; for example, requiring felons to check the box that basically says, “I lack moral integrity,” especially for non-violent crimes, is immoral and a serious barrier to employment.
Finally, this measure will reduce waste and save hundreds of millions from prison spending; by redirecting this money towards K-12 education and treatment for offenders and vulnerable populations, California can cut down on its egregious recidivism rates.
Extrapolating from estimates by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, savings would amount to $750 million over the next five years and $1.5 billion over the next ten years. These colossal savings will be allocated towards K-12 school programs (25 percent), victim services (10 percent) and mental health and drug treatment (65 percent).
Since California’s prison system is running at approximately 144 percent of capacity, this measure will dramatically reduce the systematic deprivations of human rights that result from this staggering overcrowding. It will actually help, rather than detract from, public safety as a result of its allocation of services that decrease recidivism, and as such, it will allow California to distribute its criminal justice resources more effectively.
In sum, we should all vote yes on Proposition 47.
