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Californians took the law into their own hands this Election Day, using their collective voice to shut down the soft-on-crime experiments that have plagued the Golden State over the last decade, including voting out a handful of elected district attorneys acting like public defenders that championed anti-public safety policies. In a landslide victory, Proposition 36, the Homelessness, Theft and Drug Reduction Act, passed 70% to 30% as voters demanded reform to the disastrous criminal justice reform implemented a decade ago by Prop. 47 which reclassified most drug and theft felonies to misdemeanors and took away the tools law enforcement and prosecutors need to hold criminals accountable.
In Orange County, 76% of voters voted for Prop. 36 which will require judges warn hard drug dealers that they could be charged with murder if their drugs kill someone, will provide treatment to drug addicts, and allow prosecutors to file felonies on repeat thieves. In Los Angeles County, 66% of voters supported the proposition, demanding a reprieve from the crime that has been unleashed across that county, resulting in violent home invasion robberies, armed street robberies at streetside restaurants, and a 65% increase in crime being reported across LA Metro, the region’s public transit system, between 2020 and 2024.
For the last four years, Los Angeles County residents have watched their communities deteriorate in front of their eyes as Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, the man sworn to enforce the law and protect public safety instead spent his time holding the prison doors open to release convicted murderers and other violent criminals back into Los Angeles neighborhoods. Convicted felons celebrated Gascon, clinking glasses of prison wine, knowing that their time behind bars was likely to be so much shorter with Gascon in charge. Meanwhile, the parents of Los Angeles County Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer, who was executed while sitting in his patrol vehicle last year, watched Gascon tell reporters on a nationally televised press conference that he was seeking the maximum sentence for their son’s murderer – life without the possibility of parole.
That was a lie. The murder of a peace officer is eligible for the death penalty under California law. Except George Gascon doesn’t believe in the death penalty – and he cared more about sparing the life of the executioner than the young deputy who was executed.
On Tuesday, Gascon, who co-authored Prop. 47 while he was the San Francisco District Attorney, lost his re-election bid by more than 20% to federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman. Voters rejected Gascon’s anti-public safety mandates to not file enhancements, including gun enhancements, forbidding his prosecutors to staff parole hearings or to seek the death penalty, and putting the rights of criminals over the rights of victims.
A Los Angeles County deputy district attorney celebrating Gascon’s defeat on Tuesday, summed it up, “the reign of terror is over.” Voters in Alameda County also put safety first on Tuesday, recalling District Attorney Pamela Price under an effort spearheaded by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as a result of her refusal to prosecute crime and protect the county’s communities of color from being victimized. In 2023, Alameda County had the highest homicide, violent crime, and property crime rates of California’s ten largest counties, prompting Governor Gavin Newsom to dispatch California National Guard and prosecutors from the state Attorney General’s Office to try to regain order in a county that had devolved into chaos.
Despite the desperate cries for help, Governor Newsom and the state Legislature sabotaged efforts to pass common sense bills to strengthen the state’s theft and drug laws, playing a dangerous game of chicken with the state’s district attorneys in the hopes of derailing Prop. 36. The voters refused to be fooled.
Governor Newsom, responding to the overwhelming support for Prop. 36 in a poll released just before Tuesday’s election showing a 70% approval rate, slammed voters, arguing that the change in the laws will result in a return to mass incarceration. “I was wondering what state I was living in,” he told reporters.
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Smash-and-grab robberies have become a daily feature on local news stations and stealing without consequences has resulted in criminals making it their fulltime job, carrying armloads of stolen goods out the front door of stores while hardworking Americans are waiting in line to pay for their items. The lure of California’s soft-on-crime policies has resulted in criminals from across the world coming to California to steal – and get away with it. Governor Newsom has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its retail theft taskforce, with the California Highway Patrol making thousands of arrests, but when asked about how many thieves have actually been prosecuted, the state doesn’t have the answers.
Prop. 36 changes that, providing law enforcement and prosecutors the tools that they need to hold repeat offenders accountable and keep our communities safe. The message from California voters is clear.
Safety first. Todd Spitzer is the district attorney of Orange County..
