Amid the onslaught of dismal news on Election Day, Californians passed a “tough-on-crime” ballot initiative that will lengthen sentences for some theft and drug crimes — a policy that equity-focused advocates warn will vastly increase incarceration rates in the state. Proposition 36 — also known as the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act — passed overwhelmingly 70-30 at the ballot box.
People don’t like seeing videos of brazen shop lifting and entire streets of cars with broken windows. Sure police apathy is part of the problem, but the policies of being “soft” on “minor” crime also weren’t working.