Ask anyone in law enforcement and they will tell you that Proposition 57 is NOT a solution, and instead it is a total nightmare. Prop 57 is not a solution designed to make society safer. Simply put, this is a plan designed to fix a poorly run state’s budget shortfalls and overcrowded prisons by releasing even more convicted felons. Governor Jerry Brown, the man pushing this bill, is spending billions of tax dollars on a high speed train to nowhere because he likes trains* and has to figure out some way to attempt to balance the budget.
Thus far, over the last several years, Brown has released multiple thousands of convicted felons onto the public streets, and both previous times, he labeled it as a “public safety measure.”
The first step was when he signed AB 109, or the “Prison Realignment” bill into law. It was touted as a way to “reduce overcrowding, costs and recidivism.” Because it has been proven that releasing inmates early, lessening their punishments, reduces recidivism? No, no it hasn’t.
The passing of AB 109 nearly instantly led to an increase in the crime rate. Some very violent criminals were released under AB 109 because their current reason for incarceration did not qualify as a “violent” crime. Not surprisingly, many criminals released under AB 109 went on to commit very violent crimes, including assaults, shootings and murders. There are plenty of sources documenting this, and news stories documenting some of the more heinous crimes committed by these released prisoners (except the stories notably rarely mentioned their early releases or ties to AB 109), but you have to go out and look for them as the people responsible for passing this travesty of justice sure aren’t going to let you know about it.
The next step was Prop 47 which Brown supported and the voters of California were duped into passing. I say duped because sadly, most voters are too lazy to read the actual bill and vote purely based on the name assigned to the bill. Not surprisingly, the CA DOJ, run by Kamala Harris, a fellow democrat and friend to Brown, is responsible for the name the bill receives in the voting pamphlet and on the ballots**. When you name a bill, which will essentially decriminalizes many felonies, which prevents law enforcement from arresting thieves and burglars, which reduces theft of or possession of a stolen gun from a felony to a misdemeanor thus preventing cops from arresting the gun criminal, and which eventually leads to the release of thousands and thousands MORE convicted felons back onto the streets, when you title that bill the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,” you are very clearly lying to the public in order to get the bill passed. Yet that is exactly what Kamala Harris did, and now she is running for US Senate…
The very day that bill passed, I predicted in writing that crime was going to increase dramatically. Here we are a couple years later and sadly, I was exactly right, which the FBI has confirmed. Since the passage of Prop 47, violent crime in California has skyrocketed. In just one year, the violent crime rate jumped 12% in California. While the liberal politicians responsible for this bill and even some media outlets refuse to draw the blatantly clear correlation between that rise in crime and Prop 47, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out when there are more criminals on the streets, more crime is bound to occur. Heck, all one need do to find that out is to Google “prop 47 increased crime” and you will get an ample supple of scary reading material, likely far more than you want to read.
Which brings us to where we are now, with more criminals on the streets, a climbing overall crime rate, a skyrocketing violent crime rate, and in response to all that, Governor Moonbeam is pushing a proposition that will release even more convicted felons?
Yes, that is exactly what Brown is doing. Talk about tripling down on failure!
And yet again, his buddy Kamala Harris is right there helping him out with the EXTREMELY misleading name for the proposition, the “Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016.” Conveniently, for the benefit of the uneducated, lazy California voters, that name sounds like a no-brainer.
Proposition 57, which is heavily backed by Jerry Brown, will release 7,000 more “nonviolent offenders” and will take the option of trying certain juvenile offenders charged with certain crimes as adults away from the district attorney and place that decision in the hands of a judge. You know, because coddling the criminals is working out so well for us as it is…
Also, just in case you were wondering what qualifies as a nonviolent offense under Prop 57, here are some of the “nonviolent” crimes:
- Rape by intoxication
- Rape of an unconscious person
- Human Trafficking involving sex acts with minors
- Domestic Violence involving trauma
- Failing to register as a sex offender
- Lewd acts against a child
- Drive-by shooting
- Assault with a deadly weapon
- Hostage taking
- Attempting to explode a bomb at a hospital or school
- Supplying a firearm to a gang member
- Hate crime causing physical injury
- Arson
- Discharging a firearm on school grounds
- False imprisonment of an elder through violence
All of this should leave one wondering, “Who in the hell is pushing this?” If you are wondering that, as I was, following the money is the quickest way to find that out. Thankfully, with the advent of the internet, that is not nearly as difficult as task as it once was. By visiting the CA Secretary of State website, you can find out who is supporting this measure monetarily. Looking at the four committees listed, one is clearly donating the most money. The “Yes on Prop 57, Californians for Public Safety and Rehabilitation” (what a total crock for a name!) committee has donated over $6.9 million. By the way, try Google searching that committee name and see what you find, or more accurately, don’t find.
Digging into that committee further on the Secretary of State webpage, you can find out where all that money is coming from. Not so shockingly, or maybe it is, the overwhelming vast majority of that money ($4,138,764.06) came from one source, “GOVERNOR BROWN’S BALLOT MEASURE COMMITTEE.” A few other sources should not surprise you, such as the “CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY” and “CALIFORNIA STATE COUNCIL OF SERVICE EMPLOYEES ISSUES COMMITTEE.”
Now that you know who is supporting the bill, take a look at who is opposing it. Just a list of a whole bunch of people who have the actual public safety in mind, like district attorneys, and sheriffs, not to mention a metric crap load of us working, line level cops. Here is the major difference though, this is a bunch of civil servants who do not have millions of dollars to throw at the election like Brown and the Democrats do.
Folks, please, for the sake of all our safety, help us help you. Vote NO on Prop 57!
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Footnotes
* “You’ll always have critics (say), ‘Why spend the money?’ ” he added later. “My inclination is not to spend anything. But on the other hand, I like trains. I like clean air. I like to protect as much of the land as we possibly can. And I like to enjoy the comfort of trains.” – BBC Dialogues: Jerry Brown & California High-Speed Rail
** “One of the many responsibilities of the Attorney General is to prepare a title and summary for proposed initiative measures prior to the circulation of qualification petitions.” – Ballot Initiatives
g addicted criminals roaming our streets, committing crimes to support their habit, robbing and stealing, and not being sent to jail thanks to other liberal legislation that he did not oppose (Prop 47 and AB109).
