SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The ACLU of Northern California said this week it opposed “Proposition 36 because we knew it was a misguided ballot measure that would defund critical crime prevention and drug treatment programs while creating a massive unfunded mandate that would cost counties billions of dollars and do nothing to improve public safety.”
The measure, though, was approved by voters this past week.
The ACLU added, “Now that California voters have approved Prop 36, it is up to the mayors, supervisors, prosecutors and law enforcement groups who claimed it would help reduce crime and homelessness, to deliver on their promises.”
The ACLU further noted how it and its “partners will continue to fight to ensure that thousands of Californians who need help aren’t warehoused in jail or prison simply because there are not enough treatment options available.”
Abdi Soltani, executive director of the ACLU of Northern California said the ACLU “will work to prevent Proposition 36 from becoming a tool or an excuse to dismantle decades of progress on criminal justice reform and common-sense public safety policies that the ACLU has long pursued.”
Soltani added, “The broad coalition of organizations that opposed Prop 36, including business, labor, teachers, law enforcement and front-line healthcare workers…continue to advocate for smart and effective criminal justice reform and public safety solutions that work for all communities.”
The ACLU charged Prop 36 “makes certain types of shoplifting a felony, while increasing criminal penalties for certain drug charges, including fentanyl. It allows judges to order defendants with multiple drug charges into treatment. But it doesn’t provide any money for new treatment beds.”
The ACLU maintained the Prop. 36 opposition “fear all along, however, was that rather than ushering in an ‘era of mass treatment’ to help people addicted to drugs or alcohol get off the street, as backers claimed, Prop 36 will instead cut funding to the too-few drug treatment programs that currently exist.”
The ACLU argued Prop. 36 is a “part of a broader conservative strategy in California and across the nation to roll back criminal justice reforms aimed at interrupting the cycle of mass incarceration of Black and Brown people.”
