In the past decade, California’s i ncarceration rate has dropped about 30%. The hundreds of millions of dollars the state saved by incarcerating fewer people was reallocated into community programs for at-risk kids, mental health, drug treatment and victim services. Locking up fewer people had a minimal impact on crime, the Public Policy Institute of California found earlier this year.
Th ese changes were made possible by Proposition 47, a ballot measure passed in 2014 that recategorized certain drug offenses and thefts below $950 as misdemeanors, rather than felonies. It was passed in the aftermath of severe cuts to social welfare programs and a scathing state Supreme Court ruling demanding the state reduce its prison population in order to alleviate violence and the spread of infectious diseases within its prison system.
Despite those successes, California voters chose to overturn Prop 47′s reforms earlier this month…