Renowned
government whistleblower, Sean
Erenstoft
pledged his support last week for Governor Jerry Brown's announced
ballot measure intended to reform key aspects of California's
antiquated justice system and laws.
California
Governor Jerry Brown announced The
Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016,
a ballot measure to be voted on by Californians in November 2016.
Newspaper headlines immediately declared, “Jerry
Brown wants to make it easier for non-violent offenders to get
parole” and
“California
governor pushes ballot measure to release nonviolent criminals from
prison earlier.”
By almost every account, the proposal was lauded as a paradigm of
modern criminal justice reform.
During
an introductory conference call discussing the initiative, Brown
outlined: “This affects thousands of inmates and it is
significant.” Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck declared,
“California
currently keeps the wrong people incarcerated for the wrong length of
time . . . I think that this will effectively open up bed space for
those that richly deserve to be there.”
Even Bonnie Dumanis, the Republican District Attorney of San Diego,
enthusiastically affirmed that “these
changes would encourage inmates to participate in rehabilitation
programs that would make prisons and communities safer.”
Erenstoft
went on to discuss the growing national sentiment spawned, in part,
by the political campaign of Bernie Sanders and others who are
drawing renewed interest the prison over-crowding and the illogical
incarceration of adults for non-violent and low-class drug offenses.
"Even Rand Paul and other credible political leaders on the
right have stepped back from their monolithic 'tough on crime'
stances to embrace a more humane take on current realities."
Astutely,
the legislators who drafted the California Penal Code were keen
enough to clarify what qualifies as a “violent” felony under
California law. There are only twenty-two “violent felonies”
listed in California
Penal Code Section 667.5(C)(1-22).
That list certainly includes the worst possible crimes: murder,
robbery, kidnapping, child molestation, and rape. But the label
“violent felonies” is a bit of a misnomer because there are many
other crimes that also involve significant violence but are not on
that list.
Erenstoft
applauds the this lack of clarity because it ultimately allows
prosecutors and judges to craft sentencing options on a case-by-case
basis. Unlike the one-size-fits-all of the generally failed
"three-strikes" framework whereby exceptions practically
swallow the rule, the new legislation remains "flexible enough."
