CA Prop 20 Explained: What To Know Before You Vote Election Day

LOS ANGELES, CA — In a nutshell, Proposition 20 walks back a series of controversial criminal justice reforms passed by voters over the last decade to reduce California’s prison population. If it passes, California could be expected to incarcerate more people with longer sentences.

Prop 20 would classify dozens more crimes as violent, making the convicts ineligible for nonviolent offender parole programs. It would give prosecutors more leeway to charge certain theft-related crimes as felonies, while giving parole boards more avenues to deny parole. It would also restrict parole and probation by requiring county agencies supervising probationers to go before a judge before altering or easing the terms of probation. The measure would also add two new crimes to the penal code: serial theft and organized retail theft. The theft crimes are designed to target repeat offenders and people involved in shoplifting rings.

Lastly, it would require certain misdemeanor offenders to submit to DNA collection by law enforcement.

The measure is estimated to cost state and local governments tens of millions annually due to increased jail populations, DNA collection and probation/parole oversight.

Many of the prison reforms that Prop 20 seeks to undo were passed after courts ruled that California’s overcrowded prisons were cruel and unusual, forcing the state to reduce its prison population.

The measure’s supporters contend that California erred in letting too many people out of prison or avoid jail time all together. Opponents call it a cash-grab for the powerful prison guard's union.

Proponents of the measure argue that in the state’s zeal to reduce incarceration, dangerous criminals are being allowed to prey on their communities. They argue that voters never intended to let violent offenders avoid prison time or professional thieves victimize businesses with impunity. Prop 20, they say, fills the cracks in the system created by the prison reform measures passed by voters over the last decade.

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"Right now California crimes that are considered nonserious and nonviolent — and that allow you to get out of jail or prison earlier — are drugging and raping somebody, raping a developmentally disabled person, spousal abuse, a drive-by shooting, human trafficking of a child. So a myriad of different crimes, some 17 to be exact," Assemblyman Jim Cooper told KQED. "The public never had any idea. These were not considered serious or violent crimes in the state of California. When they hear, it they're shocked."

Cooper, a Democrat from Elk Grove, joins the California Republican Party, the prison guard’s union and several police unions in supporting the measure.

Former Gov. Jerry Brown, the state Democratic Party, the ACLU, crime victims groups and numerous labor unions including the California Teachers Association have come out against the measure.

Opponents of the measure are calling it the “Prison Spending Scam.”

They argue that its supporters are using scare tactics to overturn the will of the voters, returning California back to the days of costly overcrowded prisons and an arbitrary justice system that victimizes minority communities. It’s the wrong direction for the state at a time when hundreds of thousands are taking to the streets to demand social justice, argue Prop 20 opponents.

“We had prisons that were bursting at the seams, unconstitutionally overcrowded that we had to send our prisoners to different states. We had 14 new prisons built over a period of time but one public university,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen told CBSN Bay Area. “We had high crime rates. Do we want to turn back the clock, or do we want to move forward as we have been over the last few years in this state?"

Prop 20 critics frame the measure as a return to failed criminal justice policies.

"They would like us to believe that California is in dire straits in order to reverse many of the reforms we have put in place since 2012,” Ana Zamora, ACLU of California director of prosecutorial reform, told The Davis Vanguard. “We urge the proponents of this new effort to reject the Trump administration’s return to the failed 1990s era of harsh sentencing and mass incarceration, as the voters of this state have consistently done, and instead work toward keeping California’s crime rates the lowest in history."

The measure is largely funded by the prison guard union’s California Correctional Peace Officers Association Truth in American Government Fund, and the opposition campaign is funded by private donors and charities, according to Ballotpedia.