California Voters Reverse Decade-Old Crime Ballot Measure, Opting To Crackdown On Retail Theft, Drugs

California voted to pass a ballot measure aimed at reducing retail theft and drug use in the state, reversing a decade-old measure, according to The Associated Press and multiple sources.

Proposition 36, which increases penalties for retail theft and drug possession, while mandating treatment for certain drug felonies is projected to pass, according to the AP and multiplesources. The measure undoes provisions from Proposition 47 passed in 2014, which has been maligned as a failure by some in the state.

California crime has increased in recent years, with robberies up 3.8% in 2023 and shoplifting increasing by almost 40% the same year, according to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). Violent crime is still elevated 15.4% in 2023 compared to 2019.

Vice President Kamala Harris declined to comment on how she would vote on the measure in her home state. She also did not disclose her vote on Proposition 47.

Among the measure’s notable backers were the California District Attorneys Association, California State Sheriffs’ Association, the Republican Party of California and Democratic San Francisco Mayor London Breed. The California division for the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade organization for small businesses, also endorsed the ballot initiative, according to a July press release.

The campaign in favor of the measure, Yes on 36, said the measure will provide “real accountability for those drug traffickers and criminals who repeatedly steal,” according to their campaign website.

However, opposition campaigns stressed that repealing Proposition 47 “reignites the failed war on drugs” and “wastes tens of millions of dollars on jails and prisons,” according to No on 36’s website.

The measure was generally popular in the run up to the election, with an August poll showing 56% of Californians agreeing with the measure. Support for the initiative increased in October, with 60% supporting the measure, according to a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll released Nov. 1.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom was a vocal critic of the measure, calling the measure “mass incarceration, not mass treatment,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle in September. He warned voters to “take the time to understand what they’re supporting,” according to The Sacramento Bee on Oct. 29.

Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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