By DON THOMPSON

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California has upheld several criminal justice changes, endorsing recent efforts to ease mass incarceration by reducing penalties and allowing for earlier releases.

Voters on Tuesday defeated Proposition 20, rejecting supporters’ pleas to address what they called the “unintended consequences” of two previously approved ballot measures.

One lowered penalties for drug and property crimes in 2014, while the second two years later allowed the earlier parole of most felons.

Voters rejected proposals that would have barred criminals convicted of certain serious offenses from earlier release, increased penalties for repeated retail thefts, toughened parole standards and allowed for broader DNA collections.

Opponents said the measure would have set back reforms just as the nation focuses on a criminal justice system that has treated people of color inequitably.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California voters were narrowly leaning toward maintaining the status quo on two measures related to criminal justice: keeping the current cash bail system and the criminal justice reforms they approved in previous elections.

In early returns Tuesday, about 53% favored retaining the current bail system with more than 7 million votes counted for Proposition 25 shortly after the polls closed.

The margin went the other way on Proposition 20, which would scale back two earlier ballot measures approved by voters in 2014 and 2016.

About 61% of voters were rejecting that measure in early returns. It would restore some criminal penalties, including again barring those convicted of certain serious offenses from earlier release. It also would increase penalties for repeated retail thefts, toughen parole standards and allow for broader DNA collections.

Former governor Jerry Brown said he was confident the rejection would stand as more votes were counted.

He championed the 2016 ballot measure that allowed most felons to seek earlier parole and said it “has been reaffirmed in its first test.” He had put $1 million of his left-over campaign fund into contesting Proposition 20.

Brown previously has said the ballot measure partially compensated for one of his biggest mistakes when he was first governor in the 1970s and 1980s and signed a get-tough sentencing law in 1977.

The reform voters adopted four years ago made parole more achievable, “which up until 1978 was the essence of modern prison policy in California,” Brown said during a virtual election night event organized by Californians for Safety and Justice. “It gave people an incentive and everything in the prison was oriented toward rehabilitation because that determined when you got out.”

Proponents say the rollbacks are needed to address what they call the “unintended consequences” of that measure and one passed two years earlier that lowered penalties for drug and property crimes.

Opponents argued Proposition 20 would set back reforms just as the nation focuses on a criminal justice system that has treated people of color inequitably.

Voters seemed inclined to reject the changes as violent and property crime rates continued their decline through last year, although the nonprofit Public Policy Institute of California reported a “troubling” increase in assaults and homicides during the coronavirus pandemic in Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego and San Francisco. Rapes and robberies were down, as were larcenies and residential burglaries, but car thefts and commercial burglaries increased.

Proposition 25 would substitute risk assessments to decide who should remain in jail awaiting trial. While a majority of other states have altered their pretrial release policies, California could be the first to eliminate cash bail entirely.

But even some prominent civil rights groups agreed the system is broken but said the proposed fix might be even worse because it relies on risk assessments that The Bail Project says “codify systemic racism and could lead to higher rates of incarceration in some jurisdictions.”

State lawmakers approved ending cash bail in 2018, but the bail industry stalled the law by going to the ballot box.

State Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a Democrat from Los Angeles who wrote the law, said before Election Day that ending cash bail would put California “on the path to a more fair and more safe justice system that treats everyone equally under the law.”

While most states recently have altered their pretrial release laws or policies, voters’ approval of Proposition 25 would make California “the only state with a complete prohibition on fiscal conditions of release,” according to National Conference of State Legislatures criminal justice expert Amber Widgery.

Under the new system, no one would pay bail and most misdemeanor suspects would remain free.

Those charged with felonies or misdemeanor domestic violence, sex offenses or driving while intoxicated would be evaluated for their perceived risk of committing another crime or not appearing in court. Most would eventually be released, unless they are accused of certain crimes like murder or arson, or if a judge finds there are no conditions like electronic monitoring that could ensure their appearance at future hearings.

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