San Francisco DA to keep track of certain repeat offenses as Prop. 36 goes into effect
After being approved by voters by a wide margin, Proposition 36 went into effect across California on Wednesday, which toughens penalties for certain theft and drug offenses.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said they would keep track of certain repeat offenses, as Prop. 36 goes into effect across California.
"As of today, we will be keeping track of people who begin to accumulate convictions for certain types of crimes," explained San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. "So, for a misdemeanor, petty theft, and for misdemeanor drug offenses."
Jenkins says Prop 36 won't change many day-to-day decisions in her office, at least not right away. The new law was primarily intended to curb retail theft.
It will require offenders to rack up some violations, so she says the real changes will come in time, when those offenders are back in court and prosecutors are trying to convince judges that multiple convictions require stiffer consequences.
"We are going to be adding to that a layer that is reinforcing what the voters and the people of California have said, which is that for repeat offenders court we have to be doing more," the district attorney told CBS News Bay Area on Wednesday.
Prop. 36 was broadly supported by Californians, with the final results showing nearly 70% voting yes. And it was supported by the mayors of San Francisco and San Jose.
"It is compassionate," Mayor Matt Mahan said during the campaign. "It does not return us to an era of mass incarceration. But it brings much needed accountability back to our society."
The measure was opposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
"That initiative has nothing to do with retail theft," Newsom said in October, criticizing Prop 36.
It was also opposed by many public defenders offices, and many criminal justice reform advocates, who have argued that additional pressure to push people towards treatment as an alternative to incarceration, would be relying on treatment services that are not available.
"There is not a single line item in this ballot initiative creating new funding streams for new treatment," argued Will Matthews of Californians for Safety and Justice ahead of the vote. "There is already a woeful lack of available treatment right now."
"So that is as it relates to drug possession offenses," Jenkins said of those concerns. "And right now almost all of those people have been given, generally, diversion or have bench warrants and not showed up to court. So it's going to take time before that ever even happens and we have to start assessing whether or not there are enough beds."
So time will tell how Proposition 36 unfolds in actual courtrooms. People hoping for immediate results, may have to wait.
"I just want people to temper their expectations about when we might actually see the benefits, per se, of Prop. 36 play out in our city," Jenkins said.
