The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) recently released a report on implementation of Proposition 47, also known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, passed by California voters in November 2014. Through passage of Proposition 47, individuals whose crimes are no longer be eligible for detention in State prisons are now being sent to county jails due to Assembly Bill 109 (the criminal justice realignment law). Proposition 47 reduces penalties for a variety of specified offenses, and requires the purported State ‘savings’ from prosecuting and housing these offenders to be invested in programs that support K-12 schools, victim services, mental health, and drug treatment.
The LAO report finds that Proposition 47 will significantly decrease the State prison population, but could result in a temporary increase in court costs to process offenders’ petitions for those currently serving sentences prior to the voter-passed sentencing reforms. More importantly, the report suggests that counties will see a significant reduction in their criminal justice workload – a point that RCRC recommends needs further analysis to determine how counties are responding to the drastic influx of local inmates serving time in county jails from AB 109 before we can fully understand the overall impacts Proposition 47 will have on the county criminal justice system. The LAO report also contains a variety of recommendations that the Legislature should consider with regards to how the purported cost-savings should be invested and allocated. The LAO report can be accessed here.
In related news, the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) recently released the Community Corrections Performance Metrics report, which analyzed various commonly available performance metrics that will help policymakers and counties better understand how their local criminal justice program is performing. The BSCC county performance metrics will help guide our understanding of how counties have responded to AB 109 realignment, and address Proposition 47 sentencing reforms. The BSCC report can be accessed here.