Coalition Grows to Overhaul California’s Thief-Friendly Law

The San Francisco Chronicle has this article on Mayor London Breed joining the coalition to overhaul California’s disastrous Proposition 47. And of course, being the Chronicle, the main thing they emphasize about the initiative is that it is “GOP-led,” generally regarded as a kiss of death in The City.

But Mayor Breed is not the only Democrat to climb on the fix-47 bandwagon.

Others include San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, and Assembly Member Carlos Villapudua. The article notes, “the endorsement of the ballot measure by Mahan and Breed indicates distaste for [Prop. 47] is growing among Democrats.”

Notably absent from the fix-47 group is the current Governor, Gavin Newsom.

Supporters of Prop. 47, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, argued that reducing jail time for lower-level offenses would be good for communities and save the state money that could be used for education and other government programs aimed at keeping people from committing crimes in the first place.

Newsom reaffirmed his support for the measure last month when asked about efforts to revamp the law. He pointed out that the $950 threshold for felony theft in the law is actually one of the lowest in the country. Texas, for example, has a minimum felony theft threshold of $2,500.

“Everyone is rushing to reform Prop. 47 to raise the threshold,” he told reporters at a news conference last month. “That’s not the fundamental issue.”

Instead of reforming Prop. 47, Newsom said the state needs to do more to crack down on organized retail theft, which he said has become a major problem.

Let’s take those one by one. The notion that government social programs are going to reduce crime is an old fallacy. It was one of the selling points of LBJ’s Great Society back in the 60s. Crime rose dramatically instead of falling. The fact that people keep falling for it reminds me of Charlie Brown, Lucy, and the football. How many times does this snake oil have to fail before people stop falling for it?

Some other states do indeed have higher thresholds for grand theft, but in how many of those states are there essentially zero consequences for misdemeanors? Focusing on the threshold alone to claim that California’s law is “tougher” is bogus. Before Proposition 47, Gov. Jerry Brown “solved” the state’s prison overcrowding problem by dumping a large slice of felony prisoners on the county jails, crowding out the misdemeanants. Until there are consequences for misdemeanors, making more of these crimes felonies is the only way.

Organized retail theft is indeed a problem, but it is not the only one. Newsom himself recently witnessed a solo theft and was surprised that no one did anything, completely clueless of the degree to which he was responsible for the problem.

The Prop. 47 reform is a start, and it is good to see that the mindset in California is changing to the point that Democrats feel comfortable supporting law and order again. But there is much more that needs to be done. The other Soros-backed initiative disaster, Proposition 57, also needs reforming. We need a major increase in county jail capacity (or else repeal Realignment) to put teeth back in our misdemeanor laws. California criminal justice is the Augean Stables, and it is a Herculean task to clean it up.