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Crime was on the 2024 ballot in California, and the decision by voters was decisive. Despite vocal opposition from Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic Party leaders, California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36.
Proposition 36 aims to revive drug court participation and increase penalties for certain theft and drug offenses in California.
This year-long investigation by CBS News California investigative correspondent Julie Watts examines the many components of California's new tougher-on-crime law.
Voters went on to pass California's tougher-on-crime Proposition 36 with the largest margin of any measure on the ballot, which highlighted a bit of a disconnect between state lawmakers and the people they represent. It's official name is The Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act -- three issues that supporters believe are intertwined.
We begin at the intersection of addiction and homelessness with Cesar's story before looking at the reality of statewide retail theft.
In the lead-up to the election, the governor and attorney general publicized statewide organized retail theft arrests. However, what the press releases didn't say was what happened to retail theft ring leaders after the arrests.
No one -- not the Governor's Office, the attorney general, nor the California Highway Patrol (CHP), which runs California's retail theft task force -- could tell us how many of those people arrested for organized retail theft were actually sentenced let alone how many went to jail, received treatment or reoffended.
It turned out that no one was keeping track, so we tracked down a few ourselves.
In 2024, CalMatters' new Digital Democracy Database gave us the tools to analyze hundreds of thousands of votes and dozens of hours of legislative hearings in ways that simply weren't possible before. But it was Alexandra's Law that gave us a case study exposing California's supermajority politics at its best, or worst, depending on who you ask.
If you ask Alexandra's parents, they'll tell you lawmakers used their daughter as a political pawn.
