California Changes to Three-Strikes Sentencing Law and Prison Savings Allocation Initiative (2018)
| California Burglaries and Robberies without Physical Harm Exempt from Three-Strikes Sentencing Law Initiative | |
|---|---|
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| Election date November 6, 2018 | |
| Topic Civil and criminal trials and Law enforcement | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The California Burglaries and Robberies without Physical Harm Exempt from Three-Strikes Sentencing Law Initiative (#17-0046) was not on the ballot in California as an initiated state statute on November 6, 2018.
The initiative would have removed the crimes of burglary and robbery that don't actually result in significant bodily harm from the list of crimes classified as violent felonies. Under 2018 law, the intention of bodily injury was enough to qualify a burglary or robbery as a violent felony. Likewise, the initiative would have removed robberies and burglaries in which a firearm or other dangerous weapon was not actually used from the list of violent felonies, where in 2018 these crimes were classified as violent felonies if the defendant was armed with a firearm or dangerous weapon. The initiative would have prevented these reclassified crimes from counting as third strikes requiring indeterminate term of life imprisonment sentencing according to the three-strikes law, thereby lifting minimum sentencing requirements.[1]
The initiative would have allowed any prison inmate serving an indeterminate life sentence for a third strike according to the three-strikes law to request a resentencing for their third-strike crime under the changes made to felony classifications by this initiative. Resentencing would have been required within 180 days, under the initiative.[1]
The initiative would have required revenue saved by the implementation of the initiative and the resulting release or shortened sentences of inmates to go into the People's Fair Sentencing And Public Safety Act of 2018 Fund, which would have been created by the initiative. Revenue in the fund would have been distributed in the following way:[1]
- 25 percent to elementary, middle, and high school public education,
- 25 percent to community colleges and universities specifically to reduce tuition,
- 25 percent to programs for the rehabilitation of prison inmates, and
- 25 percent to programs to prevent youth crime.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The official ballot title was as follows:[2]
| “ |
Amends Three Strikes Sentencing Law for Repeat Offenders. Initiative Statute.[3] |
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Petition summary
The summary provided for inclusion on signature petition sheets was as follows:[2]
| “ |
Revises the three strikes law to impose a life sentence with possibility of parole only when the third or subsequent conviction is for a violent felony, unless the new offense is a specified sex- or firearm-related crime, or a prior offense was for rape, child molestation, or murder. Requires resentencing of inmates currently serving life with possible parole if they would have received different sentences under this measure. Applies savings to schools, colleges, prison rehabilitation programs, and youth crime prevention programs.[3] |
” |
Fiscal impact
- Note: The fiscal impact statement for a California ballot initiative authorized for circulation is prepared by the state's legislative analyst and director of finance.
The fiscal impact statement was as follows:[2]
| “ |
Net state criminal justice system savings that would likely be in the high tens of millions of dollars initially and could eventually exceed $100 million annually. State savings from the measure would be spent on education, inmate rehabilitation, and youth crime prevention programs. Increased county costs that could exceed $10 million annually, primarily due to increased county community supervision populations.[3] |
” |
Full text
The full text of the initiative is available here.
Initiative sponsors
We The People sponsored the initiative.[1][4]
We The People President Tom Loversky said, “We’re hoping to clean up where Proposition 57 failed the will of the people. It wasn’t air-tight and allowed CDCR [Califoria Department of Correction and Rehabilitation] to leave behind non-violent offenders. [...] It costs more to incarcerate one prisoner per year ($75,000) than it does to send a student to Harvard. We hope to save taxpayers millions by releasing non-violent and aging offenders.”[4]
Path to the ballot
The state process
In California, the number of signatures required for an initiated state statute is equal to 5 percent of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election. Petitions are allowed to circulate for 180 days from the date the attorney general prepares the petition language. Signatures need to be certified at least 131 days before the general election. As the verification process can take multiple months, the secretary of state provides suggested deadlines for ballot initiatives.
The requirements to get initiated state statutes certified for the 2018 ballot:
- Signatures: 365,880 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline for signature verification was June 28, 2018. However, the secretary of state suggested deadlines for turning in signatures of March 7, 2018, for initiatives needing a full check of signatures and April 24, 2018, for initiatives needing a random sample of signatures verified.
Signatures are first filed with local election officials, who determine the total number of signatures submitted. If the total number is equal to at least 100 percent of the required signatures, then local election officials perform a random check of signatures submitted in their counties. If the random sample estimates that more than 110 percent of the required number of signatures are valid, the initiative is eligible for the ballot. If the random sample estimates that between 95 and 110 percent of the required number of signatures are valid, a full check of signatures is done to determine the total number of valid signatures. If less than 95 percent are estimated to be valid, the initiative does not make the ballot.
Details about this initiative
The timeline for this initiative is as follows:[5]
- Thomas R. Loversky and Victoria Johnson submitted a letter requesting a title and summary on November 13, 2017.
- A title and summary were issued by the California attorney general's office on January 17, 2018.
- Proponents of the initiative needed to submit 365,880 valid signatures by July 16, 2018, which is when the initiative was set to expire.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 California Attorney General, "Initiative #17-0046," accessed November 13, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 California Secretary of State, "Initiatives and Referenda Cleared for Circulation," accessed March 6, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 San Quentin News, "People’s Fair Sentencing & Public Safety Act of 2018," October 1, 2017
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Ballot Measures," accessed November 13, 2017
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