Proposition 36 qualified for the November ballot in California with over 900,000 signatures.
Simply put, this ballot initiative will reform aspects of Proposition 47 that in 2014 reclassified several “quality of life” crimes as misdemeanors instead of felonies. The most obvious was shoplifting — where the threshold for misdemeanor theft was raised to $950 per offense — and drug possession.
The impact of these changes was meant to reduce incarceration rates and create a more equitable response toward people of color who have been historically overrepresented in jails and prisons.
Did these changes work? If you look at the data, the answer is not only no but shoplifting of less than $950 increased 28% over the past five years. Did these changes work regarding drug possession? While arrests weren’t necessarily down, referrals to diversion programs were up. According to the California Policy Lab, a University of California research institute, 62% of diversion participants in San Francisco were arrested within two years, although future convictions did decline if they were referred.
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