Recidivism dropped after Prop 57 + Bonta signs abortion drug brief + Homelessness poll
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
CDCR REPORT SHOWS RECIDIVISM DECREASED AFTER PROP 57
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation released a report Friday showing that recidivism — committing a crime after being released from incarceration — decreased after California voters approved Proposition 57 in 2016.
Prop. 57 gave people with nonviolent felony convictions consideration for parole. It also empowered juvenile court judges to decide whether a minor should be charged as an adult, and credited incarcerated people with time off their sentence for good behavior, rehabilitation and education.
The measure was opposed by law enforcement organizations like the San Francisco Police Officers Association, Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs and the California District Attorneys Association. They argued that it would likely contribute to a higher crime rate.
Instead, the CDCR report reveals that in fiscal year 2017-18 — the first year that the proposition was in effect — the number of individuals who successfully reentered their communities and did not receive any additional convictions increased by three percentage points to 55.4%.
“While these are preliminary findings, they show an early positive trend in California’s investments to improve public safety through an increased focus on rehabilitation, education, and restorative justice efforts,” according to a CDCR statement.
Will Matthews, of the group Californians for Safety and Justice, said in a statement that rehabilitation is a proven way to prevent crime from happening in the first place.
“The report is also a really important reminder that the seemingly unceasing rhetoric and propaganda being pushed by law enforcement that somehow prioritizing rehabilitation in prison is jeopardizing public safety is just that: baseless propaganda,” Matthews said.
BONTA JOINS LEGAL BRIEF DEFENDING ACCESS TO ABORTION MEDICATION
On Friday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito temporarily stayed a lower court’s ruling that had overturned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion medication mifepristone until the full Supreme Court can weigh in on the matter.
Also Friday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta signed on to a 24-state “friend of the court” brief arguing in defense of the drug, which is used as a two-part combination with the drug misoprostol to manage medicated abortions.
Mifepristone has been approved for use in the U.S. since 2000.
““By significantly disrupting access to mifepristone, the Texas court’s ruling would endanger their health and safety and threaten their future. I urge the U.S. Supreme Court to heed our call and block this unprecedented and dangerous legal attack on the FDA’s judgments about a necessary, lifesaving medication,” Bonta said in a statement Friday.
President Joe Biden’s administration is defending access to the drug before the SCOTUS. The amicus brief filed by California and 23 other states argues that if the lower court ruling is allowed to stand, it will jeopardize the health and wellbeing of many pregnant people, deepen existing health care disparities, put more stress on a troubled health care system and violate the states’ rights to promote access to abortion care for their residents.
In response to the Texas court’s ruling, several Democratic governors, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, announced that they were stockpiling abortion medications in their state; while other governors chose to stockpile mifepristone, Newsom opted to stockpile misoprostol, which can be taken alone but which physicians say is less effective than when taken with mifepristone.
VAST MAJORITY OF CALIFORNIANS SAY HOMELESSNESS IS A PROBLEM
The consensus in California is near-universal — 96% of Californians believe homelessness to be at least somewhat of a problem in the state, according to a recent survey from the Public Policy Institute of California. When taking into account likely voters, that number rises to a whopping 99%.
That number has risen substantially since 2019, when PPIC first began asking that question; that year, it was 63% of Californians.
Strong majorities across the political spectrum believe homelessnes is a big problem, including 79% of Republicans, 74% of Democrats and 69% of independents. Likewise across racial demographics — 83% of African Americans, 71% of whites, 69% of Latinos and 62% of Asian Americans.
Meanwhile, seven in 10 adults say that the presence of homeless people has increased over the last 12 months.
“Pandemic-era programs such as rent relief and Project Roomkey had been critical to keeping and getting Californians off the street; these programs have largely ended now that COVID-related funding is expiring,” according to a recent PPIC blog post.
The PPIC notes that with the state’s budget shortfall this year, and likely deficits in the coming years, the state will face mounting challenges in its efforts to get people off the streets and into homes.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I sleep soundly at night with my NRA ‘F’ rating, thanks.”
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom, responding to a statement from NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, via Twitter.
Best of The Bee:
Thursday’s evacuation and closure of the California Capitol was rare but not unprecedented. A series of recent security and public health emergencies have brought the people’s business to a temporary halt, via Andrew Sheeler.
Ask Californians what policies would improve their quality of life and, it turns out, you’ll get a wide range of answers — from free mental health care to one-stop shops for public services to a ban on home sales to foreign purchasers, via Maggie Angst.