California's Proposition 47 Turns Ten

Your Legal Rights

Upon its 2014 passage, Proposition 47 reclassified some felonies — mostly non-violent drug possessory offenses or low-grade theft cases — to misdemeanor. As misdemeanors, these low level offenses could not be enhanced with prior convictions under the Three Strikes Laws.Ten years later, California is plagued with organized retail thefts and homelessness, that certain law enforcement groups would blame on Proposition 47, while proponents of the measure would point to the tens of thousands of people languishing in jail for the most minor of offenses before it's passage, and further that the crimes most often blamed on Proposition 47 were not, in fact, affected by it.On May 1, 2014, we look at Proposition 47 some ten years after its passage.YLR Host, Jeff Hayden is joined by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Eugene Hyman, retired, Professor Charis Kubrin from U.C. Irvine, Deputy San Francisco Public Defender Matt Sotorosen, and Will Matthews from Californians for Safety and Justice.Questions for Jeff and his guests? Please call, toll free, at [phone].