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Dear Neighbor,
So often, we pass legislation for the right reasons but end up with the wrong results. We declare an end to over-incarceration, but leave our small businesses to fend for themselves against rising thefts. We declare an end to the war on drugs, but lack an alternative means to keep fentanyl out of our neighborhoods and addicts in our treatment centers.
We end up with unintended consequences that make us all less safe. And when we see these unintended consequences, we can’t be afraid to fix what isn’t working. We can’t be afraid to challenge the status quo when it clearly is not working for our community.
That’s why I announced this week that I’m supporting efforts to reform Prop 47, a well-intended and sweeping 2014 ballot initiative that reclassified numerous theft and drug-related crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. While Prop 47 has reduced overcrowding in jails and prisons and given second chances to many individuals who have gone on to choose better paths, it has also exposed glaring gaps in our justice system that need to be addressed.
The first relates to our growing drug addiction crisis which in turn contributes to homelessness, other forms of crime, and untold human suffering. Since the passage of Prop 47, participation in drug courts has plummeted and overdose deaths have skyrocketed in part because judges have lost the leverage they need to compel severely addicted individuals to enroll in treatment and stick with it. They also don’t have all the tools they need to treat fentanyl like the deadly drug that it is.
Prop 47 assumed that shifting funding from jails to more treatment options would increase utilization of treatment, but by removing the consequence for failure to use treatment, it tragically has had the opposite effect. As an aside, I personally believe that the best “consequence” would be sentencing to a secure treatment facility that is mandatory like a jail, but specialized for addiction treatment and rehabilitation.
But until our state and counties build and license secure treatment facilities for substance use disorders (this would be an eligible use of Proposition 1 funding, should voters approve it in March), we are left with traditional jail as the most effective stick for compelling the severely addicted to choose treatment. Those of us working to reform Prop 47 would bring back this tool, but in a measured way by allowing a judge to change a third hard drug possession conviction as a treatment-mandated felony. The offender would be assigned an addiction specialist and have access to shelter and job training, and the ability to expunge the offense upon successful completion of the treatment. Refusing treatment would result in jail time with the option of diverting to the treatment pathway at any time.
We also would add fentanyl to the list of hard drugs resulting in felony prison time for drug dealers when in possession of large qualities or firearms.
The second big gap revolves around retail theft, and particularly repeat and organized retail theft. As the PPIC recently testified in Sacramento, retail theft in California is rising in spite of likely underreporting. Beyond even the appalling videos of brazen thefts we’ve all seen on social media in recent years, I’m heartbroken by the number of small businesses in our city who tell me theft is threatening their livelihoods while they feel powerless to stop it.
While second chances may be worth giving, we shouldn’t be giving third, fourth, and fifth chances without real consequences and ideally evidence of a commitment to change on the part of the repeat offender. Once again, I’m the first to argue that our jails must become more effective. Low-level offenders in local jails should be gaining job skills and preparing to re-enter society as productive community members with a transition plan in place. Our jails often fall far short on rehabilitation. But the answer should be to improve them, not refuse to send offenders to them.
To bring back accountability and stop repeat and organized retail theft, those of us working to reform Prop 47 would reclassify a third theft with 2 or more prior convictions as a jail-eligible felony, and would allow the fourth theft conviction to be eligible for state prison. We would also allow aggregation of the amounts stolen by an individual to reach the $950 threshold to reduce the incentive to structure crime around a series of “small” offenses that never amount to serious consequences.
These are targeted and measured changes to Prop 47 that would increase accountability where it is needed most–compelling treatment for those hooked on the most destructive and addictive drugs, applying meaningful consequences for repeated theft, and prosecuting those who bring fentanyl into our communities–without returning to the era of mass incarceration.
We need to have a solution when mothers who have lost their children due to a laced fentanyl pill come asking why the dealer who sold their child poison is still on the streets hurting other families. We need to have a solution when our small businesses come to us in fear of losing their livelihood over repeated retail theft. We need to have a solution to the crisis of addiction we see playing out on our streets and in our homes. Reforming Proposition 47 is an important piece of that solution.
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