Proposition 57 would make California less safe

The purpose of Proposition 57 is to dramatically reduce our state prison population to comply with a federal court order. To ensure that voters support it, the authors claim it will only apply to “nonviolent” offenders.

When voters hear that only allow nonviolent offenders will be released early, many think that sounds reasonable. Most voters assume “nonviolent” crimes are limited to petty theft, drug use or possession, vandalism, traffic offenses and the like. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Under California law, there is only a short list of crimes classified as “violent.”

All others, including serious felonies, are technically “nonviolent.” Here is a partial list of crimes in California that are not defined as violent:

▪  Rape of an unconscious victim. (Does former Stanford student Brock Turner come to mind?)

▪  Rape of an intoxicated victim. Andrew Luster was convicted of multiple counts of this and ultimately sentenced to 50 years in state prison.

▪  Human trafficking of a minor for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation.

▪  Placing a bomb at a school, hospital or place of worship.

▪  Domestic violence resulting in traumatic injury.

▪  Assault with a deadly weapon.

▪  Assault on a peace officer with a firearm.

▪  Sexual abuse of a child 14 years of age or older.

▪  Drive-by shooting.

▪  Hostage-taking.

▪  Crimes committed by gang members.

▪  False imprisonment of an elder by act of violence.

▪  Discharge of a firearm on school grounds.

This list goes on and on.

Because of Assembly Bill 109 realignment in 2011 and the passage of Proposition 47 in 2014, there are virtually zero truly nonviolent offenders left in prison today.

Yet according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, in September 2015 more than 30,000 of the 129,000 state prisoners were serving sentences for “nonviolent” offenses, and 16,000 of them had already served enough time to be immediately eligible for Proposition 57 early release.

Under today’s law, these offenders of “nonviolent” crimes are already automatically released after serving only half of their prison sentence. Prisoners do not need to do anything to earn that half-time early release.

Proposition 57 will give the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation a blank check to award additional credits above the 50 percent and allow the defendant an even earlier release date without any review by the sentencing judge. This means current sentencing laws will be circumvented by allowing the Board of Parole Hearings to decide who to release and when to do it. Victims will be left hanging without knowing how long their offender will be incarcerated.

In 2015, both violent crimes and property crimes rose dramatically across California compared to the rest of the country. The early release of thousands more career criminals serving prison sentences for very serious crimes will surely lead to a continued increase in crime in our communities and the needless victimization of more Californians. Increased crime will not only create more victims, it will also wreak havoc on our economic climate and real estate values. If you agree offenders of the crimes listed above should not be given early release, please join us in voting “no” on Proposition 57 to protect California.

This story was originally published October 20, 2016 at 5:39 AM with the headline "Proposition 57 would make California less safe."