Californians’ crime concerns put pressure on criminal justice reform and progressive DAs

Associated Presse

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ten years ago, 3.7 million Californians voted for a landmark measure that made many nonviolent crimes misdemeanors instead of felonies. They hoped it would lead to a more equitable criminal justice system and help end mass incarceration. Now they are blaming it for a litany of problems from a growing homelessness crisis to organized retail crime. Voters’ grievances over crime are putting progressive mayors and district attorneys up and down the state in tough reelection fights. Critics call Proposition 47 a failed social experiment. And they are backing Proposition 36 on November’s ballot, which would roll back some measures of the previous law, as a solution.