At an event co-presented by the California Endowment, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Stephen V. Manley, Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership Executive Director Peggy Edwards, and Project Rebound Director Jason Bell told a full-house crowd at the Endowment’s downtown L.A. headquarters how Proposition 47 is changing the state’s approach to criminal justice and, more broadly, the challenges faced by prisoners upon reentry to society.
Read More“California voters passed Proposition 47 last November in hopes it would save money. And so far, it seems to be working.”
Read More“City leaders would be wise to stop wishing away Proposition 47 and start understanding the choices it gives them, and the accountability that goes with them.”
Read More“Just three months [after its passage], [Prop. 47] is credited for reducing crowding in jails and prisons – helping the state meet a court-ordered population cap a year earlier than scheduled.”
Read More“We just want to give them the tools that they need to be successful when they go back out and are released,” said Chris Martin, inmate programs coordinator.
Read More“There are good reasons, rooted in conservative as well as liberal politics, to focus on restorative justice and rehabilitation rather than simply retribution.”
Read MoreAmie Zuniga, a single mother of six, hopes that clearing her record of felony drug and theft convictions will give her a second chance.
Read More“Prop 47 enables thousands to be free of the label, felon or criminal in the public’s eyes; they are free from the stigma associated with the words hopeless drug addict, criminal drug offender or brain diseased drug patient in need of prison.”
Read More“What Prop. 47 has done, it’s allowed us to keep more of our offenders for longer periods of time,” said Lt. Greg Gonzales. That time can be used to get those inmates into more classes and treatment programs.
Read More“Prop. 47’s success is a victory for drug policy reform in California. But until lawmakers get behind a more thorough and sustained dismantling of draconian sentencing guidelines, America’s incarceration problem isn’t going away.”
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