Prop 36 - No Real Public Safety Benefit

This year, special interest groups including large retail corporations like Walmart and Target as well as the California Correctional Peace Officers Association are funding Prop 36, a ballot initiative that once again seeks to roll back Prop 47. Prop 47 was passed by California voters in 2014 that changed the law so that some low level, non-violent felonies can only be charged as misdemeanors for most people. Prop. 47 also allows most people who have qualifying felony convictions in their past to petition to reclassify those convictions to misdemeanors.

Although proponents of  Prop 36 describe it as as “The Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act,” none of its provisions directly address homelessness, and it seeks to address substance use disorder and petty theft through longer sentences and enhanced punishments that evidence shows will only worsen these problems.

A joint statement from seven leading human and civil rights organizations was released detailing their opposition to Prop 36. The consortium includes Human Rights Watch, Disability Rights California, Silicon Valley De-Bug, Los Angeles Community Action Network, Community Advocates for Just and Moral Governance, Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, and Civil Rights Corps.

Excerpts from the statement are below.

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We have come together as one against Proposition 36, an insidious effort, backed by law enforcement and corporate retail funding, to resurrect the long-discredited 'war on drugs', funnel money away from evidence-based approaches, and impose harsher penalties for an expansive range of low-level offenses. We reject their scheme to dismantle Proposition 47. 

Prop 47 was a community-led effort to correct some of the harms of the worst era of mass incarceration. Passed by a nearly 60 to 40 percent margin in 2014, it reclassified non-violent drug possession and low-level theft crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, while directing money saved from these reductions to help people leaving prison to re-enter their communities. This community-led initiative significantly improved the lives of thousands by removing or avoiding felony convictions, resulting in lasting effects for public safety and family togetherness. These reforms garnered a broad base of support, which is why, when law enforcement targeted Proposition 47 with a ballot initiative in 2020, communities mobilized to successfully protect it. 

Proposition 36 would allow them to weaponize the harsher penalties to coerce people into plea deals and pressure them into drug court programs that require a treatment a person may not need and punish relapses with incarceration. Meanwhile, major corporations like Home Depot, Walmart, and Target have invested millions to support Proposition 36, relying on incomplete and often inaccurate generalizations about rising crime to deflect from their own outdated practices and protect their bottom line. 

We refuse to double down on punishment as a response to poverty and poor health. We feel unsafe and vulnerable in stores, on the streets, and in our communities not because we lack harsh penalties for drug use and low-level theft but because accessible, voluntary, quality drug treatment does not exist, and the state fails to provide communities with what they need to thrive. We reject solutions from large corporations that claim to address issues for small businesses, knowing that these corporations have the resources to exploit any changes for their benefit while small businesses remain burdened. We refuse to bail out large corporations and subsidize the retail industry as they automate, eliminate jobs, and make shopping an increasingly frustrating experience. 

Our demand is clear: more housing, better access to community-based, voluntary, and culturally appropriate health care, and increased investment in our communities—not in the prison and prosecution systems.

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Read the full statement "Proposition 36: A Misleading Bipartisan Push with No Real Public Safety Benefit" at Human Rights Watch.