Prop 47 Offers Smart Solutions for Real Criminal Justice Reform

There has been much talk recently about the idea of “Smart Solutions” to address everything from homelessness to campaign finance reform. But Proposition 47 which is on the ballot in November offers the first really “smart solution” to substantive criminal justice reform in a long time. In my view, this eminently practical revision to our system of criminal justice effectively addresses an antiquated policy of harsher sentencing that is neither practical nor socially meaningful. I am optimistic that the modest reforms embodied in Prop 47 offer substantial first steps in that direction.

If approved, the measure will reduce certain nonserious and nonviolent property offenses from wobblers or felonies to misdemeanors. The measure limits these reduced penalties to offenders who have not committed certain severe crimes listed in the measure, including murder and certain sex and gun crimes. It specifically addresses low level theft and property crimes (those under the amount of $950) like shoplifting, grand theft, receiving stolen property and check fraud which continue to clog our courts and whose prosecution impedes the effort to create forward thinking Restorative Justice models within our criminal courts. The measure also reduces penalties for certain offenders convicted of nonserious and nonviolent drug crimes and allows certain offenders who have been previously convicted of such crimes to apply for reduced sentences. This is particularly wise and timely policy in light of the recent defunding of our local drug court

Additionally, the measure requires any savings that result from the measure (estimated at between $150-$250 Million Dollars) be annually transferred from the General Fund into a new state fund called the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund. Under the measure, monies in the fund would be spent to support truancy prevention and victim services but would also fund mental health and drug abuse treatment services that are designed to help keep individuals out of prison and jail.

And here’s where the true wisdom of Prop 47 shines through. For decades, the policies underlying the criminal justice system in California have undergone mind numbing and common sense defying pendulum swings between the need for incarceration and the desire for rehabilitation. The only consistent consideration has been the protection of victims’ right and that is as it should be. But our steadfast determination to impose consequences on those accused of criminal behavior has rendered us singularly unable as a society to understand and address the causes of that behavior. The programs which the passage of Prop 47 will make possible will not only increase that understanding, they will pave the way for models of restorative justice that can be the foundation of an enlightened criminal justice system. It is time in California to swing the pendulum of public policy away from arrest and incarceration and toward rehabilitation and support. I support Prop 47 because I believe it is a first step toward a much-needed shift.