LA County Board of Supervisors endorses NO position on Prop 36

On September 24th, the LA County Board of Supervisors endorsed a NO position on Proposition 36, which is on the ballot this November. As a reminder, and it won't be the last mention of it on these pages, Prop 36 proposes to extend “three strikes”-style tough-on-crime sentencing to low-level non-violent drug and theft offenses. It also would cost California taxpayers millions each year and strip funding from critical crime prevention programs that keep communities safe and healthy. Because more Californians would languish in jail and prison on low-level offenses, Prop 36 would cost taxpayers an additional $5 billion a year on top of the $27 billion spent annually for jails, courts, and prisons across the state.

Instead of harsh punishment and longer sentences under Prop 36, communities should choose solutions that are proven to work. In Los Angeles County alone, these programs have served more than 10,000 people with excellent results:

• Ten percent of people in the county’s programs faced a new criminal conviction, compared to almost 42 percent of people coming out of state prison. One LA program reduced re-arrests by 17 percent, which is 11 percent better than the average reentry program.
• In another LA program, 86 percent of participants left the program with housing, and more than half found employment.

“For way too long, through lies and fear mongering, people in positions of power have tried to convince us that the more people we put in cages the safer our communities will be and it's simply not true," said Antoinette Ratcliffe, Executive Director with Initiate Justice, a non-profit organization whose mission is to end incarceration by activating the power of the people it directly impacts.

You can watch a replay of the press conference.

Felony Murder Elimination Project is deeply thankful to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for recognizing the harm Prop 36 will cause our communities in need of real investments, and not funding more incarceration efforts.

We hope our like-minded supporters and advocates can do the same, and amplify the message on their social media channels opposing this prison funding scam dressed up as an initiative. We encourage people to use the "Unifying Against Prop 36 Resources and Actions" toolkit for resources and sample social media posts to spread the word ahead of the November election.