SACRAMENTO – In 2014 60% of California voters (4.2 million citizens) passed Proposition 47 and re-categorized certain nonviolent crimes from felonies into misdemeanors. 2.8 million voted “no ” on the proposition. Although California has 25 million registered voters, only 7 million Californians voted on this issue…..
What, if any, has been the measurable effect of recent developments in crime statistics across the state since 2014?
Recently Robert Sass, vice president of ALADS (Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs), issued a release asserting the rising rates of certain crimes in the three years following the proposition’s passage.
Sass stated, “The undisputed facts are that in each of the three years following the 2014 passage of Prop 47, both the violent and property crime rates have increased. In Los Angeles County, 40,384 violent crimes were committed in the year prior to Prop 47; each year the number increased, with a total of 56,351 committed in 2016. Property crimes also increased every year, with 252,224 in 2016 compared to 228,419 in 2013.”
As an example of how “Prop 47 made a number of prior felony crimes inconsequential misdemeanors,” Sass cites incidents of theft and asserts that stores and residents see “no point in reporting a misdemeanor theft crime.”
He in fact states that, based on statistics of who is serving time in county jail for theft, that “theft under $950 is now a consequence-free crime.” Thus, “Prop 47 has created a criminal culture where criminals know they face little, or far lesser, punishment for their crimes.”
Law-abiding citizens are urged to keep an alert eye on the continuing trends in California crime.
