Police have often accused Proposition 47 of contributing to recent upticks in violent crime. But a new Public Policy Institute of California study finds no correlation. Instead, PPIC says a brief spike seems to have begun before Prop. 47 took effect.
One of several criminal justice measures pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown during his second stint in office, Prop. 47 turned many nonviolent felonies into misdemeanors.
PPIC’s Magnus Lofstrom says that realignment, Prop. 47 and 2016’s Proposition 57 together have contributed to 50,000 fewer inmates in California prisons.
“That’s a big drop, about 25 percent,” Lofstrom said. “And yet we haven’t seen very noticeable changes to our crime rates. They’re pretty much where they were in 2009, 2010.”
The report contains one notable exception: It connects a rash of thefts from cars to Prop. 47 — enough of them to have increased total thefts more than 9 percent above other states.
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