California voters have two propositions, 20 and 25, on the Nov. 3 ballot that deal with the criminal justice system.
Both should be rejected.
Proposition 20 would increase penalties for certain property crimes and repeated parole violations — and make it more difficult for some convicted felons to qualify for early parole and release from prison.
Specifically, this measure would give prosecutors the flexibility to charge some property crimes of more than $250, such as “serial shoplifting” and car theft, as felonies rather than misdemeanors.
It would also increase penalties for former inmates who violate the terms of their supervised release three times, and require law enforcement to collect DNA samples from people convicted of certain misdemeanors to be stored in a state database.
This measure, backed by police unions, is essentially a retreat from reforms put in place over the last decade aimed at reducing the state’s prison population.
In 2011, when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its prison population, the Legislature approved Assembly Bill 109, which shifted greater responsibility for non-violent, non-serious and non-sexual offenders from the state level to the county level. This was followed by Proposition 47 in 2014, which reduced a handful of low-level drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, and Proposition 57 in 2016, which provided incentives for prisoners to participate in rehabilitation programs.
Researchers noted after the passage of AB 109 that some property crimes, particularly car theft, were increasing and possibly linked to the law. The impacts of Prop. 47 on crime rates has been contested, with no clear determination that it has led to significant increases in crimes.
Any such increases, however, need to be seen in the context of declining crime rates. From 2009 to 2019, California’s crime rates declined across the board.
Prop. 20 forces voters who might like the idea of adding certain crimes to the violent felonies list to also accept and vote on complex changes to parole, probation and DNA collection best hashed out by elected legislators. Moreover, putting drug addicts and shoplifters in jail helps neither the public nor the perpetrators.
Prop. 20 offers voters far too many complex issues in a grab bag “tough on crime” measure. Vote “no” on Prop. 20.
Proposition 25 would make California the first state in the union to replace cash bail with an algorithm for people getting out of jail while awaiting trial.
The measure if approved would uphold a 2018 state law that sought to eliminate cash bail and replace it with an algorithm that would assess the risk of an accused person not appearing at their trial. Superior courts would have to create new pretrial assessment divisions which would make determinations that the higher the risk of the accused to flee or not show up in court, the less likely they would be released.
A study released this month by the California Policy Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, found that in Sonoma and San Francisco counties, the implementation of an algorithm to assist with pretrial release decisions would have led to more releases and less time spent in jail for people arrested in 2017-2018.
While the measure is mainly opposed by the bail industry and some law enforcement groups, who that say if Prop. 25 is approved it will put more criminals on the street and thus lead to more crimes, it has also come under fire from some civil rights organizations. They say that while cash bail discriminates against the poor, algorithms shouldn’t be used for release decisions and will still lead to people of color being held for trial at disproportionate rates.
We disagree. Prop. 25 would end the poverty penalty, providing a much fairer system of determining which accused persons are dangerous and should stay in jail and those who are safe to release under supervision regardless of how much money they have or can raise.
Vote no on Prop, 25.
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Editorial | Voters should reject ‘tough on crime’ propositions 20 and 25 - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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