Proposition 36 goes into effect on Wednesday, increasing penalties for some theft and drug crimes.
Prop 36, passed by voters in a landslide last month, undoes some of the changes made by Proposition 47, which went into effect 10 years ago.
Gone is the higher $950 threshold for a misdemeanor theft to become a felony, and with its return to $450, supporters hope to deter some of the smash-and-grab robberies that have plagued local businesses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
As CalMatters points out, Prop 36 also created “a new category of crime — a ‘treatment-mandated felony.'”
“People who don’t contest the charges could complete drug treatment instead of going to prison, but if they don’t finish treatment, they still face up to three years in prison,” the outlet noted.
Critics, however, claim the harsher penalties are a return to the mass incarceration strategies of the past and will cost too much. State officials say that cost could be hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
