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Proposition 47: A Simple Step Toward Reducing Mass Incarceration

By Jonathan Simor

California Proposition 47, on the ballot for voter consideration this November, would change the legal classification of many "nonserious and nonviolent property and drug crimes"  from felonies to misdemeanors (read the details on ballotpedia.org here).  This simple change has important consequences.  A crime classified as a felony may be punished with a sentence in state prison, while a crime that is classified as a misdemeanor may be punished only with probation or a sentence of one year or less in a county jail.  If voters approve Proposition 47, Californians convicted of crimes that pose little or no risk of violence like forging a check or receiving stolen property if the amount involved is worth less than $950 dollars (the existing dollar amount was set in the 1970s), or simple possession of drugs, would no longer end up in state prisons...continue to full post

Full post as published by Governing Through Crime on October 21, 2014 (boomark / email).