By the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board Californians adopted Proposition 47 a year ago, changing possession of drugs and five property crimes from felonies into misdemeanors. Offenders are still subject to arrest, trial, conviction and jail for up to a year, so it’s not clear why police and other justice officials now act as if […]
Read MoreIn an oped that appeared on this page Sunday, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen cheered on sentencing reform in California that’s allowing many minor offenders a second chance through shorter prison terms and more drug treatment and other help on the outside. It is, by the way, saving money. Proposition 47, the reform […]
Read MoreRichmond Pulse, News Report, Nancy DeVille For Kerry Walls, carrying the weight of a decade-old drug related felony was exhausting. He got sober in the late 2000s after years of battling a crack cocaine addition and alcoholism, and tried to put his troubled past in the rearview mirror. He applied for jobs. Some called him […]
Read MoreSACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – A new study by an advocacy group says a voter-approved initiative has cut California’s prison and jail populations by about 13,000 inmates. Voters approved Proposition 47 a year ago to reduce penalties for some drug and property crimes. Stanford Law School’s Justice Advocacy Project helped write Proposition 47. It says in […]
Read MoreIn the year since California voters approved Proposition 47, there has been a flurry of speculation about the future of drug courts in this state. Proposition 47 reduced the majority of drug and property offenses in California from felonies to misdemeanors, meaning that many offenders no longer face the possibility of state prison. Critics have […]
Read MoreBy Robert Greene California law distinguishes between felonies, misdemeanors and infractions, with different punishments for each. So when Proposition 47 changed six felonies into misdemeanors, it of course made a real-world difference: Maximum penalties for drug possession and five theft crimes dropped from an average of three years in state prison (although for the past […]
Read MoreEnsuring public safety and running a coherent criminal justice system are some of the most significant, legitimate functions of government. In recent years, old ways of doing things have been discarded in favor of new approaches. In 2011, California enacted Assembly Bill 109, also known as Realignment, which shifted responsibility for nonviolent offenders from the […]
Read MoreWhen federal officials begin to free 6,000 prisoners this week it will be one of the largest prison releases in U.S. history. It also will be a symbolic blow to the lock-’em-up, tough-on-crime approach that has made the United States home to the world’s largest prison population. That approach has never been sustainable for both […]
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy Marisa Lagos, KQED News On a recent morning, Sholanda Jackson dropped off her 8-year-old son at drum lessons before heading into work at an Oakland nonprofit. It sounds like a routine day for a mom — and it is. But for Jackson, it’s also a remarkable turnaround: She spent her 20s addicted to crack […]
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