Soft On Crime Does Not Work!
Oklahoma is awash with feel good liberals, libertarians, or just plain ignorant people that want to see the criminal justice system gutted under the impression that we send too many people to prison. California tried this already in 2014, after all the states are the laboratories for the federal government where new ideas are tried out, right? Except in California Proposition 47 has lead to massive new problems for society.
Prop 47 in 2014 did like Oklahoma did at the last general election, it dropped a lot of crimes down to misdemeanors such as shoplifting, grand theft, receiving stolen property, forgery, fraud, and bad checks among many, as long as the crimes were under $950.00, Oklahoma of course put it at $1000.00. Thieves learned to plan their crimes just under that limit per day to prevent felony arrests, so even if he is busted a small fine or a few days in jail is all it costs him. DNA isn't collected as these crimes are no longer felonies, making it that much harder to clear old serious crimes like rape and murder. And of course California is like Oklahoma, no one is going to jail on their first few offenses.
Like in Oklahoma we heard that they were doing society a favor, focusing on "serious" crimes instead of the low lying multitude of criminal activity. The savings would be plowed back into prevention and victim services, drug rehab, mental health, why no use to send a drug addict to prison or jail we were told, they need help, not costly punishment.... The Democrats and the ACLU were behind it, like in Oklahoma for SQ 780 and 781.
The results were non response to crimes called into the police, after all these are now misdemeanors, few incentives to run these bad boys down and if they are found the criminals are out on the street a few hours later with no bail, no lawyer needing hired, no reason to show up for court because there will be no one looking for them or tracking them down if they refuse to show up for court.
Crimes for small thefts like bikes or packages left on door steps have soared as the criminals know that little will happen even if arrested, a long shot at that too. Drug use was dropped from a felony to a misdemeanor as well so people are shooting up heroin in public, even on school grounds and in front of courthouses. Crime data is kept low for sure as these crimes are no longer adjudicated or even turned in in a lot of cases as misdemeanors are turned in online, not by calling a cop or going down to the police station.
The immediate result was a 12% jump in larceny and a 24% jump in property crimes between 2016 and 2017 in San Francisco. Auto burglary cases are being arrested at a 1.6% rate, less than two in one hundred. Quality of life has disintegrated as crime soars and people are living with addicts shoot up on the sidewalks and drugs are sold in broad daylight. Crime to support these drug addicts are impacting all citizens regardless of income level. Even news crews are robbed of their equipment in daylight without fear of arrest or prosecution, tourists are being robbed, and people are becoming victims.
The "savings" so far are just over one hundred million dollars, a small sum to be spread around to rehab programs so the few criminals that are wanting help will have a shot at getting rehab. Meanwhile people are beginning to organize and vigilantes are talking about taking the law into their own hands.
Another ballot question is being pushed forward to reverse some of the damage. Three strikes on misdemeanor thefts of $250.00 or more along with DNA collections resuming but 370,000 signatures are needed to get it on the ballot and a similar bill was shot down last year at their legislature.
