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Ten years ago, California passed a ballot measure that scaled back some penalties for nonviolent crimes. The effort helped reduce the number of people behind bars in the state, but crime rates ticked up during the pandemic. From Sacramento, CapRadio's Megan Myscofski reports that now even politicians on the left are feeling pressure from voters to react with tough-on-crime policies.
MEGAN MYSCOFSKI, BYLINE: At a Bay Area Home Depot, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom signed 10 bills increasing penalties for theft-related crimes. He argued the state is not as soft on crime as it's often portrayed.
GAVIN NEWSOM: What is, though, unique here, I think, is the approach we're taking to get serious about these issues.
MYSCOFSKI: The package of legislation stiffens penalties for crimes like shoplifting, theft from a car and selling stolen property. Supporters argue that the tough-on-crime policies are a natural correction from criminal justice reforms enacted over the last decade. Other say it will walk back positive changes and prevent more from occurring. Magnus Lofstrom is with the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. He says politicians are reacting to how voters perceive what's working and what isn't.
MAGNUS LOFSTROM: Policies that are being passed by our legislature or elected official, for example - they're very likely to be driven by what the public opinions are.
MYSCOFSKI: His organization found that the share of Californians who thought crime was an issue grew 11 percentage points from 2022 to 2023.
LOFSTROM: We passed a lot of reforms. We have reduced incarceration notably here in California.
MYSCOFSKI: But he says there hasn't been a lot of broad research on the effectiveness of criminal justice reform policies. The bills signed by the governor have bipartisan support and easily passed out of the legislature. But they saw some pushback from progressive lawmakers and members of the California Legislative Black Caucus, like Los Angeles State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LOLA SMALLWOOD-CUEVAS: These measures deepen mass incarceration. And deepening mass incarceration is going in reverse of where Californians wanted us to go.
MYSCOFSKI: Retailers and prosecutors have also been pushing for a ballot initiative called Prop 36 this year. It would roll back major parts of the 10-year-old policy, Prop 47, that reduced some sentences for theft- and drug-related crimes. A recent poll from UC Berkeley showed that over half of likely voters in the state support the new, more punitive ballot measure. And now it has the support of several prominent Democrats, like San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who spoke at a rally at the Capitol.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MATT MAHAN: That's why we're here today to support Proposition 36 - not because we want to go back to an era of mass incarceration but because we want to go forward to an era of mass treatment.
MYSCOFSKI: That change is giving some advocates for criminal justice reform whiplash.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOOR CREAKING)
MYSCOFSKI: As the California legislative session wraps up, a few organizers are getting ready to make their last pitches to lawmakers.
LILY HAMILTON: OK. Which way are we going?
MYSCOFSKI: Lily Hamilton is standing outside a legislator's office. They work with the Boundless Freedom Project, a group supporting people impacted by incarceration. They were incarcerated for 15 years and got out just in time to participate in protests in 2020.
HAMILTON: We saw politicians get out there and speak big, bombastic speeches, and they were railing against injustice. And now they've gone quiet.
MYSCOFSKI: They go in now knowing that they can't appeal the lawmakers in the same terms as they did four years ago.
HAMILTON: I think people are just less likely to have their eyes and ears open to these specific issues.
MYSCOFSKI: So Hamilton and their colleagues are shifting their pitch to lawmakers, leading with financial responsibility before their appeal for social justice. For NPR News, I'm Megan Myscofski in Sacramento. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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