Submission: Prop. 47 would move state out of dark age

The funds appropriated by Proposition 63 to develop California’s mental health system will end this fiscal year. Our state is in desperate need of a measure that can fill the void caused by the end of this funding and facilitate a shift in California’s priorities away from incarceration toward rehabilitation and education.

The California state tax revenue devoted to our bloated prison system is the most sensible budget item to redirect toward mental health. Proposition 47 helps to cut the prison budget by changing penalties for certain nonviolent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, thus reducing prison sentences for minor crimes.

California will reallocate 65 percent of the funds saved from this measure to mental health services, with 25 percent going to the Department of Education and 10 percent going to victim compensation. This will help California invest in the potential of those whom our current system would rather see locked up for excessive periods of time.

Passing this ballot measure is a crucial step in dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline that further diminishes the already-limited opportunities of disadvantaged youths. As students, we must decide whether we want more of the state’s revenue pumped into a prison-industrial complex or whether we want that money to go toward emotional and intellectual well-being.

Proposition 47 sets California on the right path by prioritizing the institutions and social services that move the state forward rather than keeping it locked in an inordinately punitive dark age.

Frost is a fourth-year political science student and the president of Bruin Democrats.