I swear to God, I am in the freaking Twilight zone! There is no other plausible explanation. Nothing makes sense anymore. California, the same state that in 2000 passed the 3 Strikes law, which eventually led to a steady decrease in violent crime, has recently set about intentionally, voluntarily undoing all the good that was done by those stricter sentences.
It started in 2011 when Governor Moonbeam, sorry, Governor Brown signed AB-109 into law. It was sold to the public as “Prison Realignment” and a way “to close the revolving door of low-level inmates cycling in and out of state prisons.” What it really was was the State dumping their lowest level offenders out of prisons onto the counties from which they were sentenced. The county jails, which were already full, in turn had to dump their lowest level offenders onto the streets to make room for these state prisoners. It was not done for any of the halfway noble reasons that they are trying to claim, but instead was done purely as a money saving measure for the state. California’s prisons were “overcrowded” and the state had two options, build more prisons or release prisoners. The Democrats in charge chose the cheaper route, not the public safety route.
Then, in 2014, the idiotic, uninformed voters of this once fine state voted Proposition 47 into law. Proposition 47 was sold to the public as the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,” but in actuality, it had nothing to do with anything it was sold as. The day after it passed, I wrote an article in which I lamented the lack of wisdom of the voters, and in which I predicted a rise in crime.
At that time, I wondered to myself if that was what going insane felt like.
Well, just last week, I read an article in which the results were in, and are you ready for this? Shocker, the cops were right! According to the FBI, between 2014 (when Prop 47 was made law) and 2015, California experienced a 12% rise in Violent Crime. Note that is in violent crime, not non-violent. At the time I read that article, I quickly threw together an article in which I said “I told you so.”
You know, we cops seem to understand the same thing that voters in California back in 2000 understood; when criminals are locked up and not on the street, the crime rates drop. I mean really, it is not rocket surgery, or is it?
Well, it must be, either that of Governor Moonbeam is lacking a brain, because only five days after the article announcing the 12% rise in violent crime came out, another article was published. This latest article talks about how Governor Brown just last week “proposed a ballot measure to make it easier for nonviolent offenders to gain parole.” Yep, you really did read that correctly. The crazy old man who is running this state, who has already pushed through two bills that released convicted felons, and reduced many felonies to misdemeanors, including possession of a stolen firearm, is now pushing yet another bill to release even more convicted felons onto the streets… Brilliant!!!
You know, because I guess a 12% increase in violent crime is not enough? You really cannot make this stuff up.
This, THIS has to be what going insane feels like!
As I said back on Nov, 5 2014, there is a real easy way to lower the crime rate and drastically reduce the prison population. Just legalize everything and pardon all the prisoners. What a wonderful world this would be, with no one committing crimes and no one in prison. Imagine how much money the state could save… Imagine how much more money Moonbeam could then dump into his high speed train to nowhere…
Don’t dream of complaining about thefts, or burglaries, or rapes, robberies or murders. Making those no longer illegal solves the problem, don’t you know?
Personally, I am imagining fleeing this moronic state that is run by liberal lunatics, who are in power thanks to uninformed voters too dim to learn from their own mistakes, as evidenced by repeatedly passing laws that have quite literally hurt the very people who voted for those laws.
Please, for the sake of everyone, please listen to what I am about to say.
Releasing people from prison does not magically make them good people! There is no magic wand that instantly turns a convicted felon into a nice, law abiding person. Decriminalizing crimes, in order to lower prisoner populations, does Not Prevent Crime, or make anything safer, let alone schools or neighborhoods. In fact, leaving those criminals on the streets makes things less safe, as is evidenced by the recent rise in violent crime.
We know what works. Locking up criminals prevents crime. The original 3 strikes law, and the reduction in crime that followed, proved that. Can we please start acting like we live in the real world and not some imaginary utopia that does not freaking exist?!