Californians Seem Ready for More Sentencing Reform

Two years ago, by a
margin of more than 2 to 1, California voters
approved Proposition 36, which reformed the state’s draconian
“three strikes” law by requiring that the offense triggering a
mandatory sentence of 25 years to life be “serious or violent.”
That initiative made about 3,000 prisoners eligible for
resentencing. Now Californians
seem to be on the verge of approving
Proposition 47, which would redefine certain low-level,
nonviolent felonies as misdemeanors. The initiative would have a
broader impact than Proposition 36, allowing some 10,000 inmates to
seek shorter sentences.

Proposition 47
covers simple drug possession, plus several property
crimes, including theft, shoplifiting, check forgery, and receiving
stolen property, when they involve a loss of $950 or less. The
maximum sentence for these offenses would be one year in jail. By
contrast, cocaine possession, if charged as a felony, currently can

result in up to three years in prison. So can check kiting,
another “wobbler” that can be
treated as a misdemeanor or a felony. Under Proposition 47,
check kiting would have to be charged as a misdemeanor if it
involves $950 or less, as opposed to the current limit of $450.

As The Drug War Chronicle‘s Phillip Smith
notes, recent polling data bode well for passage of Proposition
47. A Field
Poll conducted in June and July put support at 57 percent,
while a poll conducted this month by the Public Policy Institute of
California found that
62 percent of voters favored the measure. Like Proposition 36,
Proposition 47 boasts
support from prominent law enforcement officials, including San
Francisco District Attorney George Gascón and former San Diego
Police Chief William Lansdowne. It promises to reduce the severe
overcrowding of California’s prisons and cut spending on
incarceration (although it earmarks the savings for a Safe
Neighborhoods and Schools Fund, which would turn the money over to
the Department of Education, the Victim Compensation and Government
Claims Board, and the Board of State and Community Correction).

Opponents include the California District Attorneys Association
and the California Correctional Supervisors Association.

In a
column earlier this month, Steven Greenhut looked forward to
passage of Proposition 47 as another sign that Californians are
reconsidering irrationally harsh criminal sentences. Further
evidence of that: Last night Gov. Jerry Brown
signed the California Fair Sentencing Act, which
eliminates the sentencing disparity between the smoked and
snorted forms of cocaine.