Washington Examiner writer Tori Richards says Democratic and Republican lawmakers agree that Prop. 47 helped create a crime surge in California. (Shutterstock)
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A groundswell of Californians has started to push back against laws that have contributed to out-of-control looting, such as what happened to a San Francisco-area Nordstrom and Louis Vuitton in recent weeks.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike say that a 2014 law known as Prop. 47 helped create the crime surge in California by downgrading thefts under $950 to misdemeanors. This, combined with follow-up laws that removed jail as a punishment for nonfelonies, created a crime wave that law enforcement cannot keep up with.
“As a Democrat, I believe in criminal justice reform,” state Sen. Melissa Hurtado of Sanger told the Washington Examiner.
“There are inequities in our system where we need to create a justice system for all. However, we have gone too far,” Hurtado said. “The state of California has been doing it wrong. It needs to change.”
