Pubdate: Mon, 26 Oct 2015
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Marc Debbaudt
Note: Marc Debbaudt is president of the Assn. of Deputy District 
Attorneys, the collective bargaining agent for deputy district 
attorneys for the county of Los Angeles.

THE PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA WERE SOLD A BILL OF GOODS

As crime rates rise, Californians are realizing that they were sold a 
bill of goods on Proposition 47, the 2014 ballot measure that 
converted some felonies to misdemeanors. The campaign spin was all 
about reducing the punishment for drug possession. But proponents 
played down its dramatic softening of penalties for many non-drug offenses.

Under this law, more than 3,700 inmates have had their sentences 
reduced and been released from state prison. Drug addicts now often 
escape punishment for crimes they commonly commit to support their 
habits: shoplifting, writing bad checks and any thefts under $950 - 
even of guns. And most semiautomatic pistols and revolvers are 
purchased new for less than $950. This leniency just facilitates 
continued addiction.

Before Proposition 47, when prosecutors evaluated the appropriate 
degree of punishment to seek for someone accused of drug possession 
or theft, they studied the person's criminal history. That history 
doesn't matter much anymore. Even someone who has been convicted and 
served time for a serious crime - such as armed robbery, kidnapping, 
assault with a deadly weapon - can no longer be sent back to prison 
if convicted of a new theft or drug offense, because these have been 
reclassified as misdemeanors.

Let's say someone snatches a purse from your hand without knocking 
you over or using much force. That's called "grand theft person." 
Before Proposition 47, it was a "wobbler:" a crime that could be 
classified as either a felony or a misdemeanor. To decide which to 
charge, prosecutors would study the defendant's record. If, for 
example, he had a prior robbery, the prosecutor would probably go for 
a felony conviction. But now, unless your purse cost more than $950, 
the theft can be only a misdemeanor, meaning state prison is not 
possible as a punishment and deterrent.

Under Proposition 47, the criminal's prior robbery means nothing. His 
past simply doesn't matter.

Reformers say everyone needs a second chance, but the tragedy is that 
public safety has suffered as crime rates have soared. Residents have 
become victims under the guise of reforming punishment only for 
socalled victimless drug offenses.

In the city of Los Angeles, property crimes such as burglaries and 
motor vehicle thefts have risen 10.9% compared with the same period 
last year. Violent crime, such as aggravated assaults and robberies, 
has soared 20.6%. Mayor Eric Garcetti told The Times those increases 
may be linked to Proposition 47.

To make things even worse, the social engineers in the Legislature 
also passed a law in 2014 that reduced the maximum misdemeanor 
sentence from 365 days to 364 days. Under federal immigration law, a 
noncitizen who is convicted of an offense punishable by 365 days or 
more can be deported. With many felonies now reduced to 364-day 
misdemeanors, some criminals who otherwise would have been deported 
get to stay.

Here is additional fallout from Proposition 47 that Californians 
probably didn't anticipate when they voted for the measure:

The justice system lost all leverage to mandate rehabilitative drug 
programs. There is no incentive for an offender to accept a 
court-ordered 18-month to two-year intensive treatment program when 
the maximum consequence for a drug conviction is a six-month term in 
county jail. In many cases the jail sentence means only a few days, 
or even just hours, in custody because the jails have to make room 
for the felons sent from state prison under that other great reform 
called realignment. The treatment program rolls are down 60% in L.A. 
County, and addicted offenders are not getting the treatment they 
desperately need.

Proposition 47 took away a tool to fight sex crimes when it reduced 
the penalty for possession of dangerous date-rape drugs to a misdemeanor.

Thousands fewer DNA samples are being taken from suspects every month 
because state law permits police to collect DNA only from felony 
suspects. It follows that it will be much harder, if not impossible, 
to solve old cases such as murder and rape. 7

Californians passed Proposition 47 because it was slickly marketed as 
the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act. But as the results clearly 
demonstrate, we are far from being safer in our neighborhoods - or 
anywhere else.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom