This board endorses Proposition 57 because it would provide nonviolent and juvenile offenders a chance for rehabilitation, saving taxpayers millions in the process.
California’s prisons are notoriously overcrowded – their population topped 129,000 as of Sept. 30. Additionally, it costs about $47,000 to incarcerate an inmate, almost $8,000 of which falls to the taxpayer.
If approved, Proposition 57 would make nonviolent offenders, such as those convicted for drug possession, theft or tax fraud, eligible for parole consideration after they serve their full prison terms for their primary offense. It could affect roughly 25,000 members of California’s current prison population, and around 7,500 inmates sentenced each year. Most of the affected inmates would serve prison terms of about two years before they could face parole hearings.
The measure would also give judges, not prosecutors, the power to determine whether individuals aged 14 or older should be tried as adults or in juvenile court. Furthermore, minors would only face this possibility if charged with a significant crime, such as murder, robbery or certain sex offenses.
Despite arguments that providing extra parole opportunities or changing youth sentencing procedures would release dangerous criminals into society, studies have shown that California’s crime rate did not significantly change after the state downsized its prison population by nearly 30,000 between 2010 and 2014.
As such, this board endorses Proposition 57 because it eases the stress the state places on incarceration and saves taxpayers tens of millions of dollars without threatening public safety.
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