California took a big step in rolling back the War on Drugs, Prison Overcrowding

Another article here....

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Proposition 47 is aimed at reducing California’s prison overcrowding problem, according to The Atlantic, and with good reason. Conditions in the state’s overcrowded prisons are so deplorable that prisoners have brought multiple class-action suits, one of which, Plata v. Brown, made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court ruled that California’s prisons were so overcrowded that they did, indeed, constitute cruel and unusual punishment, according to Reagan appointee Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion.

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“California’s prisons are designed to house a population just under 80,000, but at the time of the three-judge court’s decision, the population was almost double that. The State’s prisons had operated at around 200% of design capacity for at least 11 years. Prisoners are crammed into spaces neither designed nor intended to house inmates. As many as 200 prisoners may live in a gymnasium, monitored by as few as two or three correctional officers. As many as 54 prisoners may share a single toilet.”

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And while Proposition 47’s goal of easing California’s prison overcrowding is laudable, it’s the way that the problem is being tackled that is noteworthy. Prop 47 reduces for non-violent drug offenses, such as possession, to misdemeanors rather than felonies, the Los Angeles Times reports. This means that thousands of inmates in California prisons serving time for possession — even possession of crack, meth, or heroin — are eligible for immediate release.

In other words, Proposition 47 addresses the issue of prison overcrowding by going straight for its original cause: The War on Drugs. California now treats drug use, thanks to Proposition 47, as a disease to be treated, rather than a crime to be punished. And the new law backs up that sentiment with real action: the money that would otherwise be spent on mass incarceration — estimated to be in the hundreds of millions per year — will be funneled toward drug treatment and prevention programs.

Scaling back the War on Drugs in California is a laudable starting point, but it doesn’t go far enough. Addicts will still have to get their fixes in back alleys while looking over their shoulders, from a distribution system that relies largely on gang warfare, rather than from clinics that receive a product — tested for contaminants — from a legal and regulated distribution system. Still, a small step in the right direction is better than no step at all.

Beyond California, Proposition 47 could potentially indicate a seismic shift in how states prosecute the War on Drugs. Prior to Propsition 47, the states’ collective approach to the nation’s drug problem has been one of more laws, more enforcement, more prisons. If California’s experiment succeeds in reducing the state’s prison overcrowding problem, legislation similar to Proposition 47 may soon be coming to your state, and none too soon.

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Good for them.

Also, on a related note, good job Alaska and Oregon for legalizing weed. Don't like marijuana? Don't do it. If alcohol is legal, so should weed.

I do have an issue with this:

" Proposition 47 requires that police who catch perps with a stolen firearm (value under $950, not an NFA item) must charge them with a misdemeanor. Not a felony. Provided no other crimes have been committed, the cops can’t arrest the ballistic miscreants. They can only issue them a ticket and a summons to appear in court. And bad guys who’ve been convicted of what used to be a felony can petition the court to have their charge reduced and ta-da! their gun rights restored. "

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Proposition 47 requires that police who catch perps with a stolen firearm (value under $950, not an NFA item) must charge them with a misdemeanor. Not a felony. Provided no other crimes have been committed,

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On the surface I hate this. However, I feel our overzealous police force will find other crimes to charge them with.

Even then it is unsettling.

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So now the pendulum swings the other way. Crime is at its max when sentencing is lax and inconsistent leading to three strikes. Crime declines consistently since its passage and now people are crying about unfair incarceration leading to a loosening of sentencing. Crime will go up, rinse repeat.

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The point of the proposition went over your head.

It's like you don't get why or are ignoring why prohibition in the 20s was an utter failure of epic proportions and not applying the historical lessons to today's times with the War on Drugs.

The WOD has harmed everybody; taxpayers paying for an ever increasing prison state that rivals only a select few countries for the biggest in the world, it's harmed the black community and taken away male guidance away from impressionable youths over simple drug indiscretions, reduced and eroded civil liberties and expanded and increased the police state into a reality where SWAT is literally being used for anything at all.

I hope California's proposition is a model to follow for the rest of the country going forward.

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I do as well but it wouldn't be enough for me to vote against proposition 47.

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WoD is bs but this has potential to be shitty. You have cops overcharging or misdemeanors for stealing firearms. Not a fan.

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I do as well but it wouldn't be enough for me to vote against proposition 47.

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The cynic in me sees the libs using this to bolster gun crime statistics to use against lawful gun ownership. The people that have stolen guns will kill cops, you, and innocents at much higher percentages than the rest of society. I have not looked at the stats, but I would bet I'm right on that point.

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You have cops overcharging or misdemeanors for stealing firearms.

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Stealing a firearm should be felony, PERIOD. That is the heart of a violent offender.