State steps forward on justice
Here, there and seemingly everywhere on California ballots last week was the topic of criminal justice. The issue came in the form of reformminded candidates, parolee voting rights, police policies and cash bail. The varying guises all asked the same question: how do voters feel about crime? Time was when California was a lawandorder citadel. The state built a huge prison system with a budget larger than that for its public universities. It delineated strict sentences to punish the guilty and take jail terms out of the hands of judges. Three state Supreme Court justices were voted from office in 1986 because of voter doubts they would enforce the death penalty. The 1994 “three strikes” law obliging long terms to repeat offenders won approval by nearly three quarters of the electorate.
Then that era began to fade. Crime rates began dropping over the last decade. Setinstone sentencing was eased. The prison population was cut by federal decrees on overcrowding and other changes. It hasn’t been steady or smooth, but this state is moderating its toughoncrime image and turning more watchful and critical of law enforcement. It’s a major shift in public attitude in less than a generation.
The proof is scattered across local and state ballot results. San Jose, Berkeley and Sonoma County approved police and sheriff oversight panels. San Francisco did away with a minimum staffing figure on its force, opening the door to possibly cutting police ranks. The city’s voters also endorsed a review board overseeing the sheriff department that will operate alongside a similar police watchdog panel.
Los Angeles is going further with a double play. Voters elected reformer George Gascón as district attorney, ousting a more traditional toughoncrime incumbent, Jackie Lacey. Also, a measure will steer money from police and jails toward housing and social programs.
That sets up a major test in the state’s biggest city. Gascón, late of San Francisco, where he was first police chief and then district attorney, has a chance to take the enormous power of his new office in a new direction. Along with his arrival, the city will road test a voterapproved initiative to spend hundreds of millions on jail diversion, mental health and housing, with the funds expected to be carved from law enforcement. It’s a plan that answers the cries to defund the police with a more spelledout solution.
The state ballot shows a mix of results on criminal justice. Parolees serving out the final part of their sentences will be allowed to vote via Proposition 17. Voters turned down Prop. 20, which proposed to add longer sentences for certain crimes and curbed early release for offenders. It would have taken the state in the opposite direction called for in a pair of landmark ballot measures approved in recent years to lessen prison time.
Still, voters weren’t sold on a referendum to end cash bail, a cause that sought to take money out of the equation when releasing suspects after an arrest. The measure, Prop. 25, came with unusual complications. The bail bond industry put up the money for the opposition campaign but also ended up with support from liberal advocacy groups concerned about the undefined boundaries in setting jail release rules. The next step could be handing the question about cash bail to the legal system, where the state Supreme Court might ultimately weigh in.
The confluence of the state and local measures gave California a handful of ways to toughen or lighten law enforcement operations. It also tested whether voters are committed to racial justice following the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky. Those cases had echoes up and down the state with police shooting cases that led to protests.
For now, voters aren’t willing to turn back from a resolve to change a legal and lockup system that’s proved costly, ineffective and harsh. They weren’t swayed by the likes of President Trump playing on fears of public safety. Residents support police but also want reasonable oversight and a legal system that operates fairly.
The ballot tallies show the state is ready to shift laws and even dump candidates who don’t heed that message. California is still moving in a progressive direction on criminal reform.