California Voters Make Possession of Most Drugs a Misdemeanor Offense

Last night voters in California approved
Proposition 47, an initiative that effectively changes the
status of a number of low-level, nonviolent drug and property
offenses from felonies to misdemeanors.

The initiative changes the possession of most drugs, including
cocaine and heroin, from a felony offense to a misdemeanor.
Possession of certain, less common Schedule I and II substances
(including LSD for some reason) will remain a felony offense.
Certain property offenses such as shoplifting, grand theft,
receiving stolen property, forgery, fraud, and writing a bad check
will all be considered misdemeanor offenses, as long as these
crimes involve $950 or less.

The initiative also allows offenders currently serving felony
sentences for these offenses, including some inmates sentenced
under the state’s draconian Three Strikes law, to petition a court
for resentencing. 

For offenders who have previously been convicted of one or more
certain serious or violent offenses, however, current convictions
of these crimes would remain felonies punishable by 16 months, two,
or three years in a county jail.

California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) estimates
California will save “several hundred million dollars annually,
primarily from freeing jail capacity” at the county level.

LAO also estimates the initiative could result in the release of
“several thousand inmates” from state prisons, which could
temporarily reduce the state prison population “for a few
years.” 

The initiative
stipulates that the 65 percent of the savings achieved be used
to support “mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, and
diversion programs for people in the criminal justice system, with
an emphasis on programs that reduce recidivism of people convicted
of less serious crimes,” 25 percent of the savings be used on a
program to reduce truancy and support students who are “at risk of
dropping out of school or are victims of crime,” and 10 percent be
used to support trauma recovery centers and to provide services to
victims of crime. 

Some may say this ballot initiative was necessary to overcome
the state government’s lack of political will to pursue any type of
meaningful sentencing reform to help reduce it’s unconstitutionally
overcrowded prisons. Indeed, Governor Brown
vetoed legislation just last year that would have given
prosecutors the choice of charging low-level drug possession as a
felony or a misdemeanor, depending on the case.

Yet an overwhelming number of voters—58
percent—cast their ballot for Proposition 47 yesterday, a
measure that’s arguably much more “radical” than the sentencing
reform bill vetoed by Brown last year.

The success of the measure can be attributed, in large part, to
the amount of outside support it received.

All in all, the measure received roughly
$10.8 million in financial support from groups and individuals
of all political and ideological backgrounds, including
conservative billionaire B. Wayne Hughes, Jr. and Netflix CEO Reed
Hastings. Opponents of the measure managed to raise only $500,000.
Notably, B. Wayne Hughes, Jr. and former drug warrior turned
reformer Newt Gingrich co-authored an op-ed published in the
Los Angeles Times touting the benefits of the measure’s
proposed reforms.

Proposition 47 also drew the support of a number
of A-list celebrities such as Jay Z, Olivia Wilde, Brad Pitt,
Cameron Diaz, John Legend, and others who were featured on the
website, artistsfor47.com.
For a criminal justice reform initiative, this type of support is
truly unprecedented.  

It’s hard to believe that this measure passed in the same state
in which voters once enacted the
nation’s most draconian Three Strikes law just 20 years ago,
which required offenders convicted of any third felony
offense, including minor drug possession offenses, to be sentenced
to life in prison.

The success of this measure indicates that sentencing reform is
starting to become palatable to more than just libertarians, but
the general public. Criminal justice reform is certainly an issue
both
Democrats and
Republicans agree is going to play a central role in the 2016
presidential election. Let’s hope that what happened in California
last night may be replicated elsewhere, either by legislators or
voters themselves.