Orange County Register – Don’t Blame Prop. 47 for a Rise in Crime

By Wayne Hughes

Proposition 47 was enacted in November with 60 percent voter support. The vote was a testament to the compassion, resolve and recognition of Californians that our state’s incarceration system is broken and incapable of reforming itself.

Prop. 47, like other measures that upend the status quo and wrest power away from institutional stakeholders and bring us back into the realm of consideration and grace, was intensely opposed by some in the law enforcement community. The sky will fall, murder and mayhem will ensue, lawlessness will prevail. And so the narrative has gone, and goes today.

But what did Prop. 47 really do? It took simple low-level drug possession, petty theft with a prior offense, and writing bad checks under $950, from felonies to misdemeanors. What it did not do is decriminalize these offenses nor take away law enforcement’s ability to incarcerate. Rather, it reduced the size of the stick that could be applied to the offender. It also made possible for individuals with these low-level prior offenses on their records (and no priors for the most serious violent or sexual offenses) to petition the court to remove low-level felonies from their records. A life changing opportunity for those who have proven they deserve it.

Now comes the inevitable attack on the measure, its proponents and the judgment of California voters. We now hear crime is up, and some blame Prop. 47.

“The most common felonies no longer carry a prison sentence,” says Michael Rushford of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, “They cite them and release them.”

What he doesn’t say is that approach is what law enforcement has chosen. California law authorizes police to arrest and detain people committing misdemeanor crimes if they are a threat to public safety. If police law agencies are not doing that, they are the ones who have decided to release Prop. 47 offenders.

Crime rates are far lower today than when we were spending more money on higher prison populations. The canard that incarceration rates and crime rates correlate is not true.

What is true is that law enforcement is “less practiced” and “historically less motivated” to go after misdemeanor crimes than low-level felonies. Once again, that is the choice of police, not a mandate of Prop. 47. Using risk assessment to determine who should be arrested, and investing in smart prosecution strategies to target repeat offenders are approaches that can, and should, be expanding as the criminal justice system adapts to reforms like Prop. 47. That way, we focus resources on violent and serious crime and stop wasting money.

Lastly, California has one of the highest recidivism rates in the United States, and spends $63,000 per year per prison inmate. Virtually no money is provided for mental health and drug treatment, which are the two largest drivers by far of incarceration. With other states expanding alternative sentencing, drug and veterans courts, it is unfortunate that some in California are pining for the good old days of “lock-em up and throw away the key.”

Wayne Hughes is is founder of Serving California, a foundation that helps serves crime victims, the formerly incarcerated and veterans.