San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan wants you to know that Proposition 36 is about more than just cracking down on retail crime.
Mahan — one of the statewide ballot measure’s most vocal supporters — argues passing the initiative to toughen penalties for low-level theft and drug crimes would also help solve California’s intertwined homelessness and addiction crises by making it easier for judges to order drug offenders into treatment.
“When someone is repeatedly breaking drug laws and using meth and fentanyl in public parks and passed out high on hard drugs on the sidewalk, we have a duty to intervene,” he said.
Opponents, however, note the measure would cut funding to some of the state’s already overextended drug and mental health programs, which would be tasked with accepting more patients ordered into their care. Some also question the effectiveness of court-mandated treatment and argue the proposition is a punitive solution that fails to address the root causes of homelessness.
Proposition 36 seeks to roll back parts of a landmark crime reform measure to alleviate overcrowded state prisons that voters approved in 2014. That law, Proposition 47, reduced penalties for drug possession and theft under $950 to misdemeanors. It also directed millions of dollars saved by locking up fewer people to fund treatment programs.
But after videos of brazen retail thefts flooded social media — reflecting crime surges in some cities — and statewide opioid deaths more than doubled since the start of the pandemic, many blamed the 2014 reform measure. In June, Proposition 36 qualified for the ballot with the support of many prosecutors, law enforcement unions and lawmakers from both parties.
Mahan’s fellow Democrat, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, also backs the proposition. Democratic Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has declined to take a position while at the same time signaling support for tougher criminal penalties.
Proposition 36 would empower district attorneys to charge people caught stealing or possessing drugs of any value more than twice with a felony. It would also create a “treatment-mandated felony,” which would allow judges to order repeat drug offenders into a treatment program or impose jail or prison time.
Measure backers argue the new felony charge is needed to reverse a dramatic drop in participation in drug courts after Proposition 47. One report found participation statewide fell 67% between 2014 and 2018. Mahan linked the decline to a 60% surge in homelessness over the past decade, bringing the state’s unhoused population to more than 181,000.
“You see a decline in participation in drug court — it follows from that that you see less engagement for treatment from the people who most need it,” he said.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan speaks during a press conference, where he announced a plan to clear 1000 homeless people from the city’s creeks and rivers over one and a half years, on Friday, March 1, 2024, in San Jose, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
A statewide survey by UCSF’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, however, found that although regular drug …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
