Southern California Criminal Lawyer Blog
By the early 2010s, California’s prison system was overcrowded and it cost the state billions of dollars each year. The situation was so bad that in 2011, the United States Supreme Court ruled that California has to reduce its prison population. Fortunately, in 2014, Californians voted in favor of Proposition 47, or the Criminal Sentences. Misdemeanor Penalties. Initiative Statute.
The measure was aimed to reduce prison overcrowding by reducing a number of felonies to misdemeanors, including certain theft crimes by raising the threshold from $400 to $950, as well as certain drug-related charges. Moreover, the Proposition provided that the money saved from incarceration will be funneled towards the funding of mental health and drug treatment programs, K-12 schools, and crime victims.
A number of studies have demonstrated that the measure more or less achieved its aims, with a decline in recidivism, reduction of prison population, and savings of over 800 million dollars. Moreover, since the passage of Prop 47, the rate of violent crimes, burglary, or robbery, has not increased. However, opponents of the measure have continuously argued that Prop 47 is the reason for the uptick of retail theft during the COVID pandemic as well as the increase in homelessness in the state. An attempt to amend Prop 47 in 2020 failed at the ballot box.