Prop. 47: Fewer prisoners, but public safety impact unclear
By Alexei Koseff, Sacramento Bee
Citrus Heights police Officer Wesley Herman recently arrested a parolee carrying stolen jewelry and a deceased man’s identification card.
If the property were valued at more than $950, the case was a felony that would let him take the man into custody. If not, it was a misdemeanor and he’d get a citation.
The first words out of his mouth, Herman said, were, “Am I going to jail?”
It’s been nine months since California voters approved a ballot measure reducing charges for some nonviolent drug and property crimes, and Herman says repeat offenders are getting savvy about the new limits of the law.
As predicted, all of the criminals in the system try to stay under the magic dollar amount of thefts so they don’t go back to jail. This increases crime obviously and places them back out for more crime instead of having them behind bars where they belong. The hide them in public shell game is not working. Property thefts are bound to increase and this law should be defeated and the former rules reinstated.
“As predicted, all of the criminals in the system try to stay under the magic dollar amount of thefts so they don’t go back to jail.”
So Justice, you’re saying that criminals approach robbery like a professional sports gamer approaches sports gaming by always betting under the reportable winnings threshold?
LOL. Get real!
Prop. 47 placed revolving doors on county jails. I feel sorry for the law enforcement officers that have to deal with the petty criminals that have figured out how to work the system. It must be incredibly frustrating for them to see these criminals get released with citations instead of punishments that might make a petty criminal think twice before committing crimes. I am glad to see that nonviolent, low level drug offenders have been released. But only if they aren’t committing crimes to feed their habits.