Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

14 hours ago

‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Kill Bill’ Actor Michael Madsen Dies at 67

15 hours ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

15 hours ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

16 hours ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

18 hours ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

19 hours ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

20 hours ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

20 hours ago
How Prop. 57 is Allowing the Release of Violent Felons in California
By admin
Published 3 years ago on
December 6, 2022

Share

Six years ago, then-Gov. Jerry Brown tricked California voters into passing a ballot measure that, he said, would make it easier for non-violent felons to earn paroles and thus ease the state prison system’s severe overcrowding.

Brown and other supporters of Proposition 57 spent millions of dollars on the campaign. “All of us learn. I’ve learned in 40 years,” Brown said, “I think prisoners can learn.” The initiative, Brown argued, “orients the prison toward rehabilitation, and I think that’s a good thing.”

Innocent people died as a result.

Dan Walters with a serious expression

Dan Walters

CalMatters

Opinion

Brown’s trick was to omit a definition of “non-violent felony” in the measure. Under pressure from the media, his campaign reluctantly acknowledged that the definition would be any crime not mentioned in an obscure section of the state Penal Code that lists 23 specific violent offenses.

There are dozens of crimes not on that list that ordinary persons would consider violent, including a slew of violent sexual assaults. Brown assured voters that violent sexual predators would remain behind bars when prison authorities issued regulations to implement Proposition 57 and it passed easily.

How did that work out? Prison officials did issue the promised regulations but two years ago, after Brown had retired, the state Supreme Court declared that rules could not modify the measure’s provisions without changing the law.

“The initiative’s language provides no indication that the voters intended to allow the (Corrections) department to create a wholesale exclusion from parole consideration based on an inmate’s sex offense convictions when the inmate was convicted of a nonviolent felony,” Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote in the unanimous decision.

The case was decided just weeks after voters rejected another ballot measure, Proposition 20, that would have closed the loophole reducing prison time for violent felons.

Dozens — and perhaps hundreds — of prison inmates who met the state’s generous provisions for earning parole have been released and inevitably some have continued to commit violent crimes.

Smiley Martin, who is awaiting trial for using a fully automatic pistol in a shootout with rival gang members in downtown Sacramento last spring that left six persons dead and 12 wounded, is one beneficiary. He had been released because his domestic violence conviction did not qualify as a violent crime.

Proposition 57 also made it more difficult for prosecutors to treat juvenile offenders as adults and a 2018 law passed by the Legislature allows felons who had been juveniles when they committed their crimes to have their sentences reduced.

Two months ago, Michael Xavier Bell was arrested for shooting a 60-year-old man to death in suburban Sacramento, just 73 days after he had been released from prison due to that law. Bell had been 14 when in 1980, he was given 53 years-to-life for breaking into a woman’s home with an accomplice and raping her in front of her 8-year-old son while pointing a gun at the boy’s head.

Is enough enough?

As Attorney General Rob Bonta was campaigning for a full term this year, he said Proposition 57 went too far.

“Domestic violence, human trafficking, rape of an unconscious person — all of those should be discussed and potentially changed under whatever the appropriate means is for Prop. 57,” Bonta told CalMatters. “I think if people are asked … ‘Is this a violent crime? Or is it not a violent crime?’ I think people will say, ‘It’s a violent crime,’ so I think those should be considered for change.”

We should hold him to that. We’ll see if Bonta sponsors legislation to close the deadly loophole that Brown foisted on the people he was sworn to protect six years ago.

About the Author

Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times. For more columns by Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

Make Your Voice Heard

GV Wire encourages vigorous debate from people and organizations on local, state, and national issues. Submit your op-ed to rreed@gvwire.com for consideration. 

 

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Madre Fire Burns More Than 52,000 Acres in San Luis Obispo County

DON'T MISS

RIP John Harris: Fresno County Rancher, Racehorse Breeder Was a Visionary Leader Who Leaves a ‘Profound Legacy’

DON'T MISS

Valadao, Costa Spar on What Passage of Trump’s Bill Means for Medicaid Recipients

DON'T MISS

US Military Says 200 Marines Being Sent to Support ICE in Florida

DON'T MISS

Boeing Secures $2.8 Billion US Satellite Contract

DON'T MISS

Kaweah Health Names Its New Chief Nurse. She’s From Texas

DON'T MISS

Clovis Police Say At-Risk Missing Woman Found Dead in Mariposa County

DON'T MISS

Over 100 Former Senior Officials Warn Against Planned Staff Cuts at US State Department

DON'T MISS

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

DON'T MISS

‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Kill Bill’ Actor Michael Madsen Dies at 67

UP NEXT

Presidential Election Reveals Big Shift in California Voting Patterns. Will It Last?

UP NEXT

San Luis Obispo’s Madre Fire Grows to 35,000 Acres, More Evacuations Ordered

UP NEXT

CHP Officer Dies in Line of Duty After Medical Emergency While on Patrol

UP NEXT

From Victims to Perpetrators: Israeli Soldiers’ Nazi Comparisons and the Unfolding War Crimes in Gaza

UP NEXT

Downtown Housing Could Rise in Many California Cities, but Barriers Remain

UP NEXT

Dear Mayor and City Council, Fresno’s Housing Bottlenecks Are a Modern Form of Redlining

UP NEXT

Trump Pulls Back 150 Guard Troops From Federal Duties in California

UP NEXT

California Republicans Send Message to Trump: Deport Criminals, Not Our Vital Workers

UP NEXT

CA Rolls Back Its Landmark Environmental Law to Speed Housing Construction

UP NEXT

A Path Forward on Immigration Reform That Strengthens America

Valadao, Costa Spar on What Passage of Trump’s Bill Means for Medicaid Recipients

12 hours ago

US Military Says 200 Marines Being Sent to Support ICE in Florida

13 hours ago

Boeing Secures $2.8 Billion US Satellite Contract

13 hours ago

Kaweah Health Names Its New Chief Nurse. She’s From Texas

13 hours ago

Clovis Police Say At-Risk Missing Woman Found Dead in Mariposa County

13 hours ago

Over 100 Former Senior Officials Warn Against Planned Staff Cuts at US State Department

13 hours ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

14 hours ago

‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Kill Bill’ Actor Michael Madsen Dies at 67

15 hours ago

Fresno Police Recover Some of the $40,000 in Fireworks Stolen From Bullard High Team

15 hours ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

15 hours ago

Fresno Crash Involving Unlicensed Teen Driver Sends Woman to Hospital

A two-vehicle collision sent a woman driving one of the vehicles to the hospital with a head injury Thursday afternoon in Fresno. Fresno pol...

10 hours ago

A crash causes a traffic jam in northwest Fresno on Thursday, July 3, 2025. (GV Wire/Paul Marshall)
10 hours ago

Fresno Crash Involving Unlicensed Teen Driver Sends Woman to Hospital

The Madre Fire near New Cuyama has burned 52,593 acres with 5% containment, prompting evacuation orders in several San Luis Obispo County zones as of Thursday, July 3, 2025, afternoon. (CalFire)
11 hours ago

Madre Fire Burns More Than 52,000 Acres in San Luis Obispo County

11 hours ago

RIP John Harris: Fresno County Rancher, Racehorse Breeder Was a Visionary Leader Who Leaves a ‘Profound Legacy’

12 hours ago

Valadao, Costa Spar on What Passage of Trump’s Bill Means for Medicaid Recipients

An ICE agent talks with migrants about their scheduled appointments with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Father’s Day, to learn about their immigration status, in Chicago, Illinois., U.S., June 15, 2025. (Reuters File)
13 hours ago

US Military Says 200 Marines Being Sent to Support ICE in Florida

Boeing logo and miniature satellite model are seen in this illustration taken, March 10, 2025. (Reuters File)
13 hours ago

Boeing Secures $2.8 Billion US Satellite Contract

13 hours ago

Kaweah Health Names Its New Chief Nurse. She’s From Texas

Clovis Police are searching for Pathmani Goonawardena, 82, who went missing nearly three weeks ago and was last seen driving a white Volvo near Copper and Auberry, possibly en route to Coarsegold. (CHP)
13 hours ago

Clovis Police Say At-Risk Missing Woman Found Dead in Mariposa County

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend