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WITHDRAWN
Recommendation to direct City Attorney to draft a resolution in support of the Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018.
DISCUSSION
In an effort to reduce the prison population, increase parole options and lower penalties for drug possession and consumption, several legislative and voter approved initiatives have been adopted over the last several years, including AB 109 and Propositions 47 and 57.
However, along with those changes have come a slew of unintended consequences that have undermined public safety and have had a significant negative economic impact on business. Some examples include:
• Changes to parole laws allowed the early release of dangerous criminals by the law's failure to define certain crimes as "violent." These changes allowed individuals convicted of sex trafficking of children, rape of an unconscious person, felony assault with a deadly weapon, battery on a police officer or firefighter, and felony domestic violence to be considered "nonviolent offenders."
• Violent offenders are also being allowed to remain free in our communities even when they commit new crimes and violate the terms of their post release community supervision, like the gang member charged with the murder of Whittier Police Officer, Keith Boyer.
• Individuals who steal repeatedly face few consequences, regardless of their criminal record or how many times they steal. As a result, between 2014 and 2016, California had the 2nd highest increase in theft and property crimes in the United States, while most states have seen a steady decline. According to the California Department of Justice, the value of property stolen in 2015 was $2.5 billion with an increase of 13 percent since 2014, the largest single-year increase in at least ten years.
• Such thefts are often committed to support drug habits, yet the recent changes to California law have reduced judges' ability to order individuals convicted of repeated theft crimes into effec...
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