Vote No on Proposition 36, Stop the Prison Spending Scam

By: Chauncee Smith, Associate Director, Reimagine Justice & Safety

Proposition 36 threatens to undo California’s community safety ecosystem.  Its passage this November would mark a return to the failed “tough-on-crime” era that made California less safe and devastated communities of color.  We cannot let this happen. 

Significant Progress on Community Safety Must be Preserved 

California has long had a penchant for criminalizing minor quality of life issues instead of addressing instead of addressing the social conditions that gave rise to them.  In the early 2000s, this led the state to incarcerate approximately 156,000 people—an amount that nearly doubled the prison system’s designed capacity of 80,000 people.  Conditions were so inhumane that severe mental and physical harm, and even deaths, became ordinary.  In response, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 2011 decision which held that California’s prison system was unconstitutional and amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment.”  As a remedy, California was ordered to significantly reduce its prison population. 

In 2014, California voters approved Proposition 47 to decrease incarceration and put our state on a path toward care-centered community safety.  Prop. 47 reclassified nonviolent property and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors.  It allocated savings resulting from less incarceration to crime prevention and anti-recidivism programs.  Over time, Prop. 47 has generated over $800M in savings for those programs.  It also helped decrease the prison population by 25 percent.  

Studies show that Prop. 47 alleviates the root causes of community safety risks and prevents recidivism.  This year, for example, the California Board of State and Community Corrections released a report which found that participants in Prop. 47 programs experienced a 60% decrease in homelessness, a 50% decrease in unemployment, and lower recidivism rates (e.g., 15.3% among participants versus a statewide rate of 35-45%).  

Proposition 36 (2024) Would Undo Prop. 47 and Make California Less Safe 

Prop. 36 is backed by large multi-billion-dollar corporations like Walmart and Target, as well as law enforcement associations.  The measure would roll back successful Prop. 47 reforms and return our state to criminalizing minor property crimes and substance use as felonies (as opposed to misdemeanors).  It does so without creating a funding stream to cover the costs of increased incarceration or substance use treatment.  Below are key reasons to vote “no” on Prop. 36 

• Prop. 36 Wastes Public Dollars to Expand Mass Incarceration:: By incarcerating more people for minor property and drug offenses, Prop. 36 would waste billions of public dollars on increased incarceration, law enforcement, and court, prosecutor, and public defender caseloads.  Instead, public dollars should be invested in care and equity-centered programs that address the root causes of safety risks.   
• Prop. 36 Cuts Spending for Care-Centered Community Safety Programs:  Since enactment, Prop. 47 has generated $816 million in savings from decreased incarceration that have funded programs to reduce recidivism, K-12 truancy and dropout, and provide services for behavioral health and substance use.  Prop. 36 would place those programs in jeopardy.    
• Prop. 36 Disproportionately Harms to Low-Income Communities of Color:  History shows that increasing incarceration for low-level property and substance use offenses has an outsized impact on low-income communities of color.  Data show that Black and Latinx people are more likely to be stopped and searched by law enforcement than white people, but are less likely than whites to be found in possession of evidence of a crime.  After being stopped, people of color face daunting biases at every juncture of the criminal legal system.  This has caused devastating consequences in communities of color, including, incarceration, lower public health and educational outcomes, economic extraction through fees and fines and, for immigrants, deportation.  

California must continue to lead by shrinking the criminal legal system’s footprint and advancing smart investments in community safety rooted in equity and care.  Prop. 36 not only threatens this progress but also puts us on a path to undo decades of meaningful reforms that have saved lives and made our state safer.