Sacramento officials vow ‘fair’ approach as Prop. 36 theft punishments go into effect
With California’s new law allowing harsher prosecution for retail theft going into effect on Wednesday, Sacramento County law enforcement officials promised a measured approach they say will stop perpetrators of organized crime while not targeting people who shoplift out of desperation and poverty.
Proposition 36, which won support from two-thirds of California voters, allows prosecutors to charge defendants with a felony if, over time, they’ve stolen goods worth more than $950, and sets up a treatment-focused court process for those accused of drug crimes. It was part of a backlash to a previous law, Prop. 47, which decreased penalties for numerous non-violent crimes, by voters in 2014.
“We will be measured and fair, ” Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho said at a news conference Tuesday. “But make no mistake, we will hold people accountable.”
Ho, along with Sheriff Jim Cooper and County Supervisor Rich Desmond, spoke at the Howe Bout Arden shopping center, the site of multiple organized retail thefts in the past week alone. All three supported the measure, which also punishes some theft-related crimes with time in state prison instead of county jails, and allows law enforcement to warn people arrested for fentanyl offenses that they can be charged with murder if someone dies after taking the drug.
Over the past two years, Ho said, California businesses have lost over $15 billion to retail theft.
Opponents of the ballot initiative said it would lead to increased targeting of the poor and people in minority communities, but Ho insisted that would not be the case.
“I want to make a distinction between somebody stealing a ham sandwich for personal sustenance versus someone stealing 20 filets mignon,” Ho said.
As the new law takes effect, Ho and Cooper said they plan to distribute stickers and cards to retail businesses showing that they are protected under the new law, an effort they said would help deter crime and make merchants and shoppers feel safer. The new law does not come with new funding for law enforcement, but the two said they would find the resources to combat organized retail theft and fentanyl distribution.
The cards will include a QR code that shoppers can use to learn about the new laws on the District Attorney Office’s website, he said.
Desmond — the county supervisor who represents Arden Arcade, Carmichael and Fair Oaks — said the new law would help authorities more appropriately respond to people experiencing mental illness and drug addiction by creating a new avenue to direct them to treatment.
“For people who need the help, we’re going to get them that help,” Desmond said. “We’re not going to criminalize addiction. We are going to use this as an opportunity to help people.”
He also said that low-income neighborhoods where retailers experience a higher level of crime would benefit if theft was reduced, because merchants would be able to stem their losses and may not have to lock up so many items.
Cooper, a Democrat who previously served in the Legislature, said the law’s passage was a pivotal step toward reversing what he contends were overcorrections by Prop. 47.
Of 1,000 people arrested in theft-related crimes over the past year, only 12 were homeless, Cooper said. The rest, he said, were taking advantage of what he called “lax” laws on retail theft.
Dion Dwyer, administrator for the Arden & Howe Business Alliance, said he thought the stepped-up efforts planned under Prop. 36 were a welcome start. But it was too soon to tell if those locked-up toiletries would be back on regular store shelves any time soon.
“If retailers start to feel safe, then maybe they’ll unlock those products,” he said.
This story was originally published December 17, 2024 at 4:03 PM.
