Every few months, there is a call in Illinois to reduce criminal penalties for what advocates label nonviolent felonies, non-serious crimes, minor drug offenses, etc.
California's Proposition 47 was passed to do precisely that. Californians for Safety and Justice members were ecstatic. Crimes, such as "simple drug possession, or property crimes involving less than $950, such as theft, shoplifting, burglary to a motor vehicle, writing bad checks, or receiving stolen property, are now misdemeanors.
Misdemeanors carry jail time of one year or less.
Additionally, California felons previously convicted of those offenses are now eligible to have their felony sentences reduced to misdemeanors, unless they have a prior conviction for murder, rape or child molestation, etc.
Emptying and closing prisons, was ballyhooed. It would save California up to $200 million a year. Sadly, there seem to be a number of unintended consequences.
The Los Angels Times quotes of new member of the "misdemeanor class," Semis Sina, who has gone into the business of stealing bicycles (16 arrests!) to support his meth habit:
"Now, you can get away with it because of Proposition 47!
"It's cool ... I can go do a [commercial] burglary and know that if it's not over $900, they'll just give me a ticket and let me go."
After a May 7, 2015 arrest, Sina spent two months behind bars. Released on July 9, he immediately returned to work. On July 31, he pleaded guilty to stealing a bicycle at a shopping mall. A judge sentenced him to nine months behind bars.
Four months later, he was released from jail to finish his sentence in a work program.
Sina has been sentenced to drug rehab five times in 2015; he has not reported for a single session. "I know it's up to me to change. I wasn't ready. I probably still am not."
Sina personifies the principle: without the threat of a felony conviction and serious prison time, fewer California drug offenders are enrolling in court-ordered treatment. Why? Because there is no hammer to force meth, cocaine and heroin addicts to enter and complete treatment.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Terry Smerling states that judges have long used the threat of a significant time behind bars to encourage offenders to enroll. With the passage of Prop 47, many drug offenders have declined to enroll, preferring a short stint in jail to the longer treatment program. Across Los Angeles County, enrollment in specialized drug court programs has plummeted by 50 percent.
The fact is that repeat offenders, like Sina, make it their profession to break the law; they have no fear of the consequences. So, while the state saves money releasing prisoners, the cost of their continuing criminal activity is shifted to the law-abiding citizens of California -- its storekeepers, auto owners, bike owners. Since the passage of Prop 47, LAPD has reported a double-digit increase in property crimes.
The March 18 San Francisco Chronicle reports the FBI states that San Francisco is "the city with the highest increase in property crime rates in the U.S."
In San Francisco, increased crime rates, for the first six months of 2015, cost the public more than $120 million. In Los Angeles, County, more than $250 million.
"In truth, Prop 47 and the other reckless experiments in criminal justice reform such as prison realignment, merely shifted the cost from society at large -- which funds the criminal justice system -- to individual victims." (sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/An-explosion-of-California-property-crimes-6922062.php)
California was already an advanced practitioner of social justice and income redistribution. Prop 47 has, in effect, eliminated the need for the state to act as a middleman. The state itself no longer needs to tax and redistribute. The new misdemeanants are now redistributing directly to themselves any property they covet.
If you are foolish enough to leave your golf clubs valued at less than $950 in your car, expect them to be stolen. If you’re a store-owner, it's help-yourself-time for shoplifters.
To avoid being robbed blind, you must ensure that every item you offer for sale, is marked $951 or more!
Posted: May 7, 2016. QCOnline.com
Copyright 2016,
John Donald O'Shea
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