California Voters Turn the Page on Lawlessness
Leah Barkoukis
California voters embraced law and order on Tuesday, voting to approve Proposition 36, which will impose harsher penalties for drug crimes and repeat theft.
The measure, which was opposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, was overwhelmingly supported by Golden State residents, who have grown tired of increased lawlessness in the state. At the time of writing, half the votes were in showing more than 70 percent support for its approval.
Proposition 36 will make it a felony for someone to steal merchandise of any value after two previous offenses and can lead to longer jail or prison sentences.
The ballot measure also allows judges to sentence convicted drug dealers who traffic in large quantities of hard drugs, including fentanyl, or who are armed with a gun while trafficking the drugs to state prison instead of county jails. It will also create a “treatment-mandated felony” as a new category of crime, by giving some eligible drug offenders an option for treatment instead of jail time.
The measure undoes key parts of a 2014 ballot measure, Proposition 47, which voters overwhelmingly passed during a time when the state Democratic leaders sought reverse what they argued was an ineffective tough-on-crime era that swelled the state’s prison population to unconstitutional levels. (Los Angeles Times)
In an additional win for law and order, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón was defeated, with voters giving his challenger Nathan Hochman a decisive win.
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https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2024/11/06/george-gascon-defeated-in-la-da-race-n2647361