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For more than a year, a seven-person California commission has been quietly spearheading a massive effort to overhaul the thicket of criminal laws that make up the state penal code.<\/p>\n
Its ideas for 2022 are ambitious, including an eventual end to the state\u2019s controversial \u201cthree strikes\u201d law and changes to lifetime prison sentences without the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there are a great number of injustices,\u201d said Michael Romano, the chairman of the state Committee on Revision of the Penal Code and a Stanford Law School lecturer. \u201cAnd I think we can make our state even safer and more fair by looking at some of the details.\u201d<\/p>\n
The committee \u2014 comprising lawmakers, criminal law scholars and former federal and state judges appointed by the governor and legislative leaders \u2014 was formed in 2020 to closely examine California\u2019s incarceration rates and make policy recommendations to lower them.<\/p>\n
In broad terms, the advisory panel aims to provide lawmakers with ideas that move California toward more diversion and rehabilitation programs and away from the tough-on-crime policies of decades past. Members have encouraged the state Board of Parole Hearings to grant more prisoner releases and have characterized some sentence enhancements as too harsh. They favor mental health treatment in lieu of incarceration and have endorsed ending California\u2019s death penalty<\/a>.<\/p>\n Its work resulted in six laws that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2021 out of the 10 recommendations<\/a> the committee submitted. The new laws <\/a>include limiting sentence enhancements for gang affiliation and ending mandatory sentence minimums for nonviolent drug offenses.<\/p>\n The changes, according to a committee overview, \u201cwill significantly reduce unnecessary incarceration for thousands of Californians, reduce racial disparities in criminal sentencing, and save taxpayer dollars better spent on programs proven to improve public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n In December, the committee submitted its second annual report<\/a> to the Legislature, recommending expanded reentry programs for paroled prisoners and strengthened laws to divert people with mental health concerns into treatment, not prison cells.<\/p>\n \u201cThe penal code is like a phone book. It\u2019s so thick and so dense and complicated. I don\u2019t think people understand it very well, in the system and out of the system,\u201d Romano said. <\/p>\n But the current political climate could make such ambitious changes challenging.<\/p>\n A recent increase in retail smash-and-grab crimes<\/a> and last year\u2019s 31% rise in homicides<\/a> have left Democratic lawmakers under fire for endorsing more progressive criminal justice policies, though the policies are not clearly connected to current crime trends. Critics point to laws such as Proposition 47, a 2014 ballot measure that lowered certain drug and theft felony offenses to misdemeanors, and Proposition 57, a 2016 initiative to expand parole eligibility, as evidence of California\u2019s missteps. <\/p>\n And they\u2019re taking their frustrations to the ballot box.<\/p>\n In San Francisco, Dist. Atty. Chesa Boudin faces a June recall election after critics assailed his progressive policies as the wrong approach in light of a recent uptick in crime rates<\/a>. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gasc\u00f3n has so far avoided a recall election, but his opponents have tried once and are already coordinating another recall attempt. Many of the issues are also likely to surface in the race for state attorney general between incumbent Rob Bonta and Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Anne Marie Schubert.<\/p>\n \u201cAll we need are these anecdotal stories to scuttle really thoughtful approaches to reforms because we just err on the side of really wanting to be punitive to make a point,\u201d said state Sen. Sydney Kamlager (D-Los Angeles), who served on the committee as an Assembly member before being elected to the Senate in March. <\/p>\n Kamlager wrote the gang enhancement law, which she said has disproportionately locked up people of color. The law that takes effect on Jan. 1 requires prosecutors to prove a crime was committed because of a gang affiliation before adding a sentence enhancement. The bill was one of the most controversial of the 2021 legislative session and passed the Assembly on final approval with no votes to spare.<\/p>\n Despite that battle, and current headlines, Romano remains optimistic. <\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia has led the nation in criminal justice reform,\u201d Romano said. \u201cElection after election, there have been reforms to reduce punishment and provide more opportunities for people to get out of jail and prison. At the same time, our crime rates have dropped.\u201d<\/p>\n