LA Times - Three Strikes is Back on the Ballot in Prop 36

The following editorial, "Three strikes is back on the ballot — in Proposition 36 and D.A. race" from the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

Excerpts appear below.

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When California voters adopted the “three strikes” law in 1994, they accelerated a chain of events that ultimately led to unconstitutional state prison overcrowding and a federal court order to release 46,000 people.

As the 30th anniversary of the vote approaches, three strikes is back on the ballot in two unexpected ways.

The race for Los Angeles County district attorney will likely determine whether a challenge to the law will be heard by the state Supreme Court, or dropped. And Proposition 36, if it passes, would allow two low-level misdemeanors, theft and drug possession, to be treated like third strikes and turned into felonies.

Without necessarily realizing it, voters are now deciding whether to double down on three strikes, and in so doing whether to saddle themselves with steeper jail and prison costs and a larger incarceration footprint in much the same way they currently are paying a high price for their three-decade-old vote.

Proposition 36 would add the two mini-three-strikes provisions, both of which turn a third misdemeanor into a felony, although not one punishable by anything approaching a 25-to-life term.

Under a different Proposition 36 provision, a person with two prior petty theft convictions could be charged for a third offense with a felony and sent to jail. Stealing a slice of pizza would once again subject an offender to the possibility of a multi-year sentence.

In fact, drug and theft misdemeanors already carry jail time, but in counties with overcrowded jails such as Los Angeles, police, prosecutors and jailers reserve their efforts for more dangerous offenders.

That’s a smarter use of resources. County jails today are where state prisons were after three strikes and other tough-on-crime measures led to unconstitutional crowding. After federal judges ordered prison releases, California sent lower-level felons to local jails instead of state prisons, and counties were expected to make room in the jails by finding creative, safe and effective alternatives to locking up their nonviolent misdemeanor populations.

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Don't be fooled. Prop 36 will lead to more crime, not less. It reignites the failed war on drugs, returns the polices that led to California's mass incarceration and prison overcrowding era, makes simple drug possession a felony, and wastes tens of millions of dollars on jails and prisons, while slashing crucial funding for victims, crime prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.

The solution to homelessness, addiction, and theft is not returning to a failed mass incarceration experiment but serving our communities with resources and support. Don’t fall for the prison spending scam. Californians deserve to feel safe and to live in safe, healthy communities. Don’t let Prop 36 burn down the programs proven to help people stay on track. 

Vote NO on Prop 36.

The full editorial from the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board --->>> "Three strikes is back on the ballot — in Proposition 36 and D.A. race"