Vote for fairness, not fear, on Propositions 20 and 25

Will we go together toward fear or fairness?

That is the stark choice posed by a pair of criminal justice propositions before you. Proposition 25 continues our steady path toward a criminal justice system that is fairer and far less destructive toward the poor and people of color. The other — Proposition 20 — is trying to get us to fearfully retreat from reforms that are showing clear evidence that they are working well.

I have just launched a broad series of social justice reforms in Santa Clara County — from a decision to stop seeking the death penalty to helping expunge thousands of low-level criminal records. We will find out in time the effects of these efforts. I have faith that we are moving in good faith, with reason and purpose. However, right now, today, it is clear to me that the one direction we cannot go is backward.

We cannot go backward to the time 10 years ago when our prisons were so packed with nonviolent offenders that judges found them to be unconstitutionally cruel. We cannot go back to a time when the poor had a much greater chance of spending time behind bars than the wealthy. We cannot pretend that George Floyd is alive and well, and protesters never marched, and that everything in the criminal justice system cannot be made better, smarter and fairer for everyone. It can. It will. It must.

I urge you to support Proposition 25 and reject the cynical attempt of Proposition 20 to walk back much of our hard-fought and worthy gains.

Fairness

Prop. 25 will allow us to finally end the discriminatory practice of cash bail.

Simply put: Cash bail discriminates against low income individuals who are disproportionately African American or Latino. It is unfair for a wealthy but dangerous person to buy their freedom. It is unfair for a poor person who is not dangerous to be deprived of their freedom. We should no longer ask how much money does a person have? Instead, we should ask, is this person safe to release from jail before trial? If the answer is yes, he should be released and supervised, no matter how poor. If the answer is no, this person is dangerous, he should be held in jail no matter how rich.

Eliminating cash bail also will have a powerfully positive economic impact on racial inequity because it will end the transfer of millions of dollars in bail bond fees out of poor communities of color to bail bondsmen and keep those millions of dollars in the community working for the community.

Simply put, this is fair.

Fear

Crime is at historic lows, the lowest in decades. For years now, Propositions such as 36 and 47 have helped change our state’s paradigm from locking up people who we were angry at, to focusing our efforts on imprisoning the small number of individuals who are truly dangerous. Yet, Proposition 20 seeks to play on the misplaced fear of some, that with such reforms must come criminal chaos.

Putting drug addicts and shoplifters in jail helps neither the public nor the perpetrators. Addiction is a health problem. In this county, I stopped prosecuting low-level drug offenders until their third offense. It took thousands of cases out of the justice system. They need treatment — not a record.

The fact is, according to a recent report by the Public Policy Institute on Proposition 47, that violent crime did not go up as cynically predicted by reform opponents. Another nightmarish scenario put out by those blocking progressive reform was that we had taken away all disincentive for nonviolent criminals to reoffend. However, the PPI study showed that recidivism has actually gone down in California since we passed these reforms — in some cases by more than 10%.

Fear didn’t work 10 years ago, and it will not work now. It wasn’t fair 10 years ago, and it won’t be fair now.

We cannot go back to a time when the poor had a much greater chance of spending time behind bars than the wealthy.

Faith

I urge you to vote for Prop. 25 and reject Prop. 20.

“Lock ’em Up” can no longer be our law enforcement legacy. We must have faith that the only way forward is away from fear and toward fairness.