Two Days After Proposition 36 Became Law, Thieves Are Going to Jail

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In California’s capital city, police have pounced on thieves and druggies two days after the new tough-on-crime initiative, Proposition 36, became law. Michelle Bandur of KCRA News reports that on Thursday Sacramento deputies arrested 31 suspected thieves for shoplifting with three facing felonies under the new law.

Outside a retail store, deputies arrest a woman they say changed clothes inside the store. She told the deputies she has been arrested before and they explained the new law and how she will be going to jail, instead of getting a ticket. The law also says a previous misdemeanor in another state counts toward the two previous charges.

In 2014, socialist billionaire George Soros and the pro-criminal ACLU spend millions to fool Californians to vote for Proposition 47, the so-called “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.”  That initiative reduced all theft-related crimes valued and under $950 from felonies to misdemeanors, and also made the possession of illegal drugs including methamphetamine and fentanyl misdemeanors. Under that law offenders who were arrested received a citation and were released. Sacramento Detective Andy Cater told reporters,

It didn’t matter how many previous tickets they had; they didn’t spend time in jail and could keep shoplifting. “Suspects are very open about the fact that they know theft in the state of California under $950 is a misdemeanor,” Cater said. “They have no problem telling us, ‘Why? I didn’t steal a felony amount.'”

Proposition 36 restored felony status for habitual thieves, drug addicts and dealers. Any thief or druggie with two prior convictions can now be charged with a felony and taken to jail.

The challenge going forward will be about jail space. A bill (AB 109) Governor Jerry Brown signed into law in 2011 eliminated state prison sentences for virtually all property crimes, including habitual car thieves and burglars. Since that law’s adoption these criminals can only be sentenced to an overcrowded county jail and rarely serve their full term.

While Proposition 36 does require state prison sentences for some three-time losers, larger cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, San Jose, Stockton and Sacramento are going to have to get innovative about where to hold the influx of thieves and addicts that don’t qualify for prison time.

Until AB 109 is repealed, this problem is going to get worse.