What exactly is Prop. 47? And how could California voters change it this year?

By Ana Sosa | LA Times

In May 2011, a U.S. Supreme Court upheld a decision against the state of California that required reducing the prison population to avoid overcrowding. A federal three-judge panel had ordered every state prison in California to reduce its population to 137.5% of its “design capacity” within two years. In the 2010s, the state’s prisons were functioning at over 180% capacity, which meant they were holding about 34,000 inmates over the limit established by the federal court.

State lawmakers approved legislation that changed how the state prosecuted low-level, non-serious offenses, referred to as “realignment,” allowing some offenders to serve their time in county jails rather than state prisons.

Proposition 47 had three major components: reducing some felonies to misdemeanors; allowing prisoners to have their sentences reduced if they were serving time for crimes that were reduced to misdemeanors; and shifting money saved from reduced incarceration to services in local communities.

Proposition 47 reclassified some felony crimes and made it so individuals who commit certain nonviolent drug and property crimes, including shoplifting where merchandise under $950 was stolen and simple drug possession, would be sentenced on misdemeanor charges instead of felony charges. Though prosecutors filed misdemeanor charges for many of those crimes before Proposition 47 was enacted, some had been considered a “wobbler” and could be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony. A misdemeanor sentence would still lead to a person serving up to a year in county jail. Proposition 47 did not apply to people who already had a prior conviction for serious or violent crimes, and it did not apply to registered sex offenders.

Read more at: LA Times