In 2014, the voters of California approved Proposition 47 which reduced a number of felonies to misdemeanors. As long as the total value of the stolen property is under $950, shoplifting, grand theft, receiving stolen property, forgery, fraud, and writing bad checks are no longer classified as felonies. A thief may now steal anything under $950 every day and his crimes will never rise to the level of a felony.
California Democrats and the ACLU touted Prop. 47 as a means of using the funds saved by reducing the prison population for the police to go after violent and serious offenders, and for school programs, victim services, and mental-health and drug treatment. Those behind Prop. 47 even mislead the public by titling it the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.”
California law enforcement officials are blaming Proposition 47 for a significant rise in property crimes. San Francisco, the mecca of uber-leftism, has become the nation’s leader in burglary, car break-ins, thefts and shoplifting since Prop. 47 went into effect.
There have been proposals to pass a law similar to Prop. 47 in the Texas legislature. The Democrats, with the help of Republicans, succeeded in reducing car break-ins from a felony to a misdemeanor. A former investigator with the Galveston County Auto Theft Task Force tells me the reduction to a misdemeanor has led to a huge increase in car break-ins.
The move to reduce property crime felonies to misdemeanors is spreading across the country. Rachael Rollins, Boston’s district attorney, has pledged not to prosecute 15 crimes, among them trespassing, shoplifting, thefts under $250, and receiving stolen property. But she went further than that by including charges of drug possession with intent to distribute. And worst of all, she refuses to prosecute resisting arrest charges where that was the sole charge and resisting arrest charges when the arrest was made for any of the 15 crimes on her list.
Dallas district attorney John Creuzot has ‘decriminalized poverty’ by refusing to prosecute theft of personal items worth less than $750 and other misdemeanors that he believes often stem from poverty.
San Antonio’s DA Joe Gonzales has gotten the Sheriff and police chiefs in Bexar County to agree with his ‘cite and release’ policy in which arrests are not made for marijuana possession, misdemeanor theft, driving with an invalid license, and criminal mischief. Additionally Gonzales will not prosecute when the possession of Schedule 1 drugs is less than 0.25 grams. Schedule 1 drugs include heroin and Ecstasy.
To her credit, liberal Harris County DA Kim Ogg has not up to now gone along with the move to decriminalize low-level crimes.
The soft-on-crime wolves in Texas have already reduced car break-ins to misdemeanors. Harris County Republicans and the state Republican Party must be ever on guard to keep those wolves from getting their paws any further in the door, lest Texas becomes just one more San Francisco.
Liberals may refer to them as low-level crimes, but don’t tell that to the victims of these criminals. I remember a liberal professor at College of the Mainland who ranted against how unjust the criminal justice system was. That is until a thief stole his VW bug out of the college parking lot. Then he screamed to high heaven that the thief of his car should be hanged … and he meant it.
I have coined the following phrase: One Low-Level Criminal In Jail Is One Less Criminal On The Streets. That’s something the crime victims of San Francisco would most likely and wholeheartedly agree with.
And finally, here is a lesson from Criminology 101: Today’s low-level, non-violent criminal may be tomorrow’s murderous criminal. That serial hot check writer you try to stop may whip out a pistol instead of a pen, and shoot you dead.
Tom says
Burglary of a motor vehicle has been a misdemeanor in Texas for years. This is nothing new and nothing done by the new prosecutors in Dallas and Bexar counties.
I’ve seen police using trash arrests as a form of preventative detention for years. It took me years to convince the Harris County DA’s office that the police don’t have the right to walk up to people, demand identification, then arrest them if they don’t produce it. After all, there are two Supreme Court decisions directly in point, one of which was a Texas case. And, aside from drivers stopped on traffic, I don’t know of any law of general application requiring anyone to carry identification.
it’s not as common in recent years, but I’ve seen a lot of arrests for expired inspection stickers or not wearing a seat belt. And, I never remember seeing a River Oaks resident driving a Lexus arrested for traffic. And, if one was, it was for contempt of cop for lipping off to an officer.
As for the hot check writer who turns into an armed robber, the highest recidivism rate is for alcoholic check forgers. They never stop and they rarely commit other crimes.
I’m not recommending stopping arrests for crimes like shoplifting. Retail stores lose 3-5 percent of sales to thefts, including employee thefts. And, we all get to pay for that in the form of higher prices. On the other hand, making a third time theft of less than $50 a felony costs the state a whole lot more in housing and caring for those thieves than they ever stole.
Trey Rusk says
Burglary of a M/V has been a misdemeanor for years. That doesn’t change the fact that BMV’s are a serious problem that need to be addressed with harsher penalties. The contents stolen from the car sometimes enhance the crime to a state jail felony because of the theft and use of credit cards. Vehicle thefts are down but car jacking (robbery) is up because newer cars are difficult to steal and can often be tracked. As far as Failure to identify, it must be coupled with a crime or a fugitive from justice to be applied properly. You are correct that most people believe people have to carry identification. It is not a law. Just as it isn’t a law to fly without identification. It certainly makes boarding a plane difficult but not impossible. POP (pissing off the police) is not an offense but coupled with a seatbelt or headlight violation, POP can bounce a person in jail quicker that some felonies. Believe it or not police officers are human. You usually get treated like you treat the officer. As for hot check writers, it is almost a thing of the past. Most transactions are made with credit/debit cards. Most of the stolen credit/debit cards (felonies) come from misdemeanor burglaries of motor vehicles. So decreasing some penalties have had adverse effects on all of us. Especially BMV.
howie katz says
“As for the hot check writer who turns into an armed robber.” Tom, you misread my last paragraph. I said nothing that would imply a hot check writer would turn into an armed robber. What I said was that if you try to stop a hot check writer you may get shot.
Years ago, a man tried to cash a large check to pay for a small bunch of groceries at a Houston supermarket. When the cashier refused to cash the check because her Telecheck showed it was hot, he pulled out a gun and shot her dead. Up until then he had been only a non-violent hot check writer.
PeterD says
Howie, while I agree with you in principle, the reality is that local jails just don’t have the space and neither do state prisons. If you’re going to re-criminalize some of the many behaviors in need of separating some of the population from the rest, be prepared to pony up some needed tax dollars to build and staff the appropriate facilities. The hand wringers that want Texas to mirror California, New York, or Illinois in terms of criminal justice reform switched tactics some years ago to convince policy makers how we’d all save large amounts of money forgot to inform us of the true cost of not prosecuting various crimes or treating them with such a light hand that we no longer see a deterrent effect.
Whatever makes anyone think Soros-funded DA Kimbra Ogg is tough on crime hasn’t kept up with the antics of her office, repeat felons getting released on PR bonds, denying charges of armed antics based on a very speculative view of the facts of cases brought forth, and misplaced priorities on which cases get all the attention. Sure, we save a few dollars by shorting police departments and by throwing the criminals back into society but the long term costs are, as you say, a mistake of epic proportions.
Bob Walsh says
Car burglary got so bad in SF they don’t call it that any more. They changed it to “auto boosting” so that they could dump that stats that made them look so horrible. The basic attitude in SF is that people who commit “minor” property crimes are just people who need the money-stuff-whatever and “the system” is failing by not giving it to them in a more conventional manner. Essentially people have the RIGHT to commit property crimes. They also have the right to shit on your doorstep. And sleep on your doorstep. And both shit and sleep on your doorstep, often at the same time. SF has become a sick, sad joke.
Fat Albert says
Here’s an idea – it will save money because we won’t be housing 100’s of non-violent criminals and it will also cut way down on crime:
Floggings in the public square. Say 5 lashes for breaking into a car, 10 for actually stealing it. Maybe 5 for theft of less than $1000.
I promise it won’t take long and your crime statistics will drop through the floor!
Jeff Larson says
Given the choice between prosecuting a thief, who has an actual victim, and prosecuting a drug user, I’d go for the thief. The guy that makes off with my toolbox full of hand-me-down tools from my (now deceased) father in law may be committing a misdemeanor, but he’s doing me a lot more harm than some guy down the street who wastes most of his money on coke.
And if someone is stealing to support their habit, they’ve just crossed the line from victimless to victimizing crime…and can pay the consequences.