CALIFORNIA
FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“WOULD
PROP. 20 HELP AGAINST WILDFIRES, CRIME?”
Anyone
examining the unintended consequences of California’s many past ballot
propositions cannot possibly ignore what was accomplished by the 2014
Proposition 14 and its follow-up measure, 2016’s eponymous Proposition 16.
This
fall, Proposition 20 is designed to remedy some of those effects.
Both
the earlier measures passed by margins of more than 60-40 percent. Both aimed
to lower the state’s prison population, which had long exceeded intended
capacities by many thousands of convicts. They did this by making misdemeanors
out of former felony crimes like firearm and vehicle thefts, grand theft,
credit card fraud and other types of stealing, so long as the value of what
criminals took did not exceed $950. It’s anyone’s guess where that arbitrary
figure originated.
Those
changes came in Prop. 14. They were supplemented by Prop. 16, which allowed for
earlier than ever paroles for “non-violent” crimes including sex trafficking of
children, rape of unconscious persons and felony assault with a deadly weapon,
all absurdly mis-classified as not so dastardly.
Soon
afterward, violent crime began rising in some places; in Los Angeles last year,
it was up 69.5 percent since 2013.
These
were certainly unintended consequences, even if they were predicted in the
ballot arguments against both Props. 14 and 16, not to be confused with
initiatives on this fall’s ballot that carry the same numbers.
Critics
also predict higher crime will result from the state’s ongoing early releases
of many thousands of prisoners who were within less than a year of fulfilling
their sentences, even though that has not happened yet in most places. About
8,000 inmates had been let go early as of the beginning of September in an
effort to prevent worsening of outbreaks of COVID-19 in several high-security
penitentiaries.
No one
predicted what all this prison-emptying would mean for wildfires, where convict
firefighters have long been an underpaid but essential part of California’s
defenses.
Some of
them recently called that form of convict work “slave labor,” while others
responded that the service inspired them and led them to seek firefighter jobs
after leaving custody.
One
unquestioned effect of the reduced number of prison “trustee” firefighters was
that the state hired nearly 900 new seasonal firefighters to make up for the
dwindling supply of convict shock troops. As of midsummer, only 94 of the
state’s usual 192 units of inmate firefighters were available. The coronavirus
was hindering efforts to train up more inmate crews. Then came the summer’s
unprecedented spate of wildfires, at one point seeing dozens of major blazes in
almost all vulnerable parts of California.
Enter
Prop. 20, due to be voted on through most of October and on the official Nov. 3
Election Day.
Its
stated aim is to “prevent early release of violent felons.” It would do this by
reclassifying some crimes now officially and strangely considered non-violent,
despite their inherently violent nature.
Says an
official state summary, “A yes vote…means people who commit…theft-related
crimes could receive increased penalties.” It would also prevent convicted
child molesters, sexual predators and violent criminals from winning early
prison releases.
Passing
this would indicate a new, less crime-tolerant attitude in California. This
would require a shift of at least 10 percent of the electorate away from
supporting the earlier prison-emptying measures.
At the
same time, it could provide thousands of additional potential convict
firefighters, who usually see their sentences reduced in exchange for very
risky service on the fire lines.
Opponents
call this “a prison spending scam,” charging the yes side wants to “scare
voters into spending tens of millions on prisons, which could force draconian
cuts to rehabilitation, schools, mental health care and (increase)
homelessness.”
No one
has yet established a direct connection, but homelessness proliferated in
California simultaneously with the advent of the prison emptying measures.
All
this is up for argument right now, but there is no doubt that well over 1
million acres of wild land and hundreds of homes burned in the first two months
of the official fire season.
Voters
can now decide whether they believe the shortage of inmate firefighters helped
cause all this damage, and what – if anything – to do about it.
-30-
Email Thomas Elias
at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most
Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It" is
now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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