There is a movement to change a 2014 California crime law that many believe has caused problems in the state, regardless of their political views. The law, called Proposition 47, made some serious crimes, like stealing up to $950 from stores and other property theft, into less serious crimes. It also changed some drug possession crimes from serious felonies to less serious misdemeanors.
And it was the brainchild of then-AG Kamala Harris.
Former California deputy director of parole Douglas Eckenrod said Harris isn’t “tough on crime.” He noted that Prop 47 wouldn’t have happened without the support from the Attorney General’s office.
Last year, lawmakers began considering ways to overturn Prop 47. They created Prop 36, the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act.
Prop 36 allows stricter punishments for drug dealers if their actions lead to death or serious injury. It would also warn drug traffickers that they could face murder charges if their drug dealing causes people to die.
It would also make fentanyl one of the hard drugs, like heroin, cocaine, and meth, and make it illegal to have a gun while possessing it. It would also mean stricter punishments for selling large amounts that could be deadly.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, along with district attorneys from all over the state, are helping with the effort to change the law. Both conservatives and liberals in California support it, and it will be on the November ballot.
Breed, who first supported Prop 47, now sees some unexpected problems from the measure as she works to fight illegal drugs and theft in her city, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. She mentioned that the goal isn’t to keep people in prison forever, but when there are no real consequences for crimes in the city, it becomes a big issue.
When Kamala Harris was the attorney general, her office wrote the descriptions for the ballot measures that helped people understand what they were voting on. Her description of Prop 47 said it would lower the number of people in prison, help with school attendance, and save money for mental health services and schools.
NBC reported that, even though Harris didn’t officially support or oppose the bill, Republicans said she didn’t explain it well.
A former public safety official said Harris’s claims about handling drug and violent crime are just empty talk. The official explained that Harris avoided taking a clear stand because she didn’t want to affect her future. The official also said Harris could have written a fair and honest description of Prop 47, which might have shown people how it would affect safety and communities.
Now, after ten years, the impact is clear.
Former LA County DA Steve Cooley blamed the state’s crime spike on Harris and Prop 47. Calling the results “irreparable,” Cooley said, “It was beyond a bait-and-switch. It was fraud by misrepresentation.”
Opponents of Prop 47 say that it has led to more people going from prison to homelessness. They also believe that there are no consequences for crimes and drug use and that drug treatment programs aren’t being used.
Greg Totten, CEO of the California District Attorneys Association, said California is at a breaking point. People are frustrated with the open drug use, homelessness, and theft happening around them. They see stores with locked-up products, fewer items in stock, reduced hours, and even closed stores and malls.
Totten, a prosecutor for 40 years before joining the California District Attorneys Association, told Fox News Digital that Prop 47 was meant to focus on “more treatment, less jail.” He said that while fewer people are going to jail, the amount of treatment for people with serious drug problems, like those with cocaine, heroin, meth, PCP, and fentanyl, has dramatically decreased.
One notable part of Prop 47 reads that the bill “curbed law enforcement’s authority to collect DNA samples.” You don’t have to watch CSI or Criminal Minds to understand this isn’t good.
When Prop 47 was approved, police blamed Harris for not saying it would lead to a drop in collecting DNA to solve serious crimes like rape and murder. After the law was enacted, the number of DNA samples collected each month went down from 15,000 to 5,000.
A spokesperson for Harris’s campaign told Fox News Digital that Kamala Harris was a successful prosecutor who “took on predators, fraudsters and cheaters like Donald Trump.”
Trump, “convicted” of mislabeling payments to his attorney, seems just like the type of “criminal” Harris would have focused on. God knows she wasn’t worried about murderers, dealers, and rapists.
