LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! Brian A California public safety measure to reclassify low-level crimes, including drug possession, won a clear victory on Tuesday, as voters paved the way for thousands of non-violent offenders to be resentenced and potentially released from the states notoriously overcrowded prison system. Voting 58.5 to 41.5 percent to pass Proposition 47, California residents spoke clearly on the issue of mass incarceration, according to Brian Elderbroom and Ryan King with the Urban Institutes Justice Policy Center. They wrote, The current sentencing and correctional system in California is costly and inefficient and voters would prefer their tax dollars to be spent on education and health care rather than incarceration. Under Proposition 47, low-level property and drug offenses including shoplifting, theft, and check fraud under $950, as well as personal illicit drug use will be reclassified from felonies to misdemeanors. Because the law will apply retroactively, as many as 10,000 people convicted of these offenses may now be eligible to petition for early release and, by some estimates, state courts will hand out roughly 40,000 fewer felony convictions each year. As stipulated by the law, the estimated $150 million in state savings will be used to support school truancy and dropout prevention, victim services, mental health and drug abuse treatment, and other programs designed to expand alternatives to incarceration. This historic vote demonstrates support to advance a public safety strategy beyond incarceration to include treatment and prevention, said Marc Mauer of criminal justice reform advocacy group, The Sentencing Project.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 16:00:23 +0000
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