Calif. redefined crime, residents continue to suffer effects

Repercussions of non-enforcement of criminality are devastating as repeat offenders, aware there are no consequences for their actions continue their crime sprees

With California’s passage of Proposition 47 in 2014 the theft of less than $950 in merchandise is treated as a nonviolent, non-punishable misdemeanor under state law. This crime can be continually repeated. Ludicrously sold to the voters as the ‘Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,’ it was ostensibly to divert money from incarceration of criminals to enhancing public schools, which have instead transmogrified into bastions of leftism and Critical Race Theory.

The consequences are even worse than anticipated by law-abiding residents. Not only are customers forced to pay more to make up for the losses, but stores that are unable to remain viable while routinely sustaining thousands of dollars in theft, are closing.

The only winners are the criminals.

Under the proposition’s lax standards, DNA samples are no longer collected from misdemeanor offenders, leading to a constricted DNA database, making it more difficult for law enforcement agencies to solve cold cases, including those involving rape and murder. This was the Prop.47 overview as released by the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

As would be expected, the referendum had the support of the California democrat party, the teacher’s unions, and the American Civil Liberties Union, which donated $3.5 million to support it. Ill-informed state voters passed it into law. Leftists don’t believe punishment deters crime, though the facts indicate exactly the opposite is the case. Today the objects of compassion are the criminal perpetrators, not the victims of their lawless aggression. Proposition 47 passed by 59.6% to 40.4%.

In 1866 Dostoevsky wrote his classic novel “Crime and Punishment” that remained required reading for many of us, when such a quaint concept existed. Despite rising criminality, punishment is passé.