California Democrats shift rightward on crime in response to GOP pressure

District Rep Brian Jones announces new bill to change California s sanctuary status Photo by Tessa Balc Times of San Diego Republican state Sen Brian Jones has been trying to block sex offenders from being distributed from prison through California s elderly parole plan for several years Last week for the first time his bill to do so made it out of its first committee It was just one of various votes that Senate Bill will have to survive in a long road ahead in the Capitol but it caught Jones attention In a Legislature dominated by Democrats who often shelve Republican tough-on-crime proposals the approval from the Senate Citizens Safety Committee was unanimous I don t think it would have passed a committee last year reported Jones the Senate minority leader California s Democratic legislators who for years have been passing progressive measures designed to reduce sentences and lessen mass incarceration by emphasizing more rehabilitative solutions to crime were dealt a blow last fall when an overwhelming majority of voters approved Proposition The measure backed by business owners police and Republicans increased sentences for particular drug and theft crimes partially undoing more lenient measures that voters approved just years ago Though plenty of Democrats opposed the measure they re now tasked with providing funding to carry it out Jones of San Diego revealed he s seeing Democrats inching toward stricter incarceration measures as a end He mentioned he saw a window to bring back the law this year The smart Democrats are getting it he stated The voters spoke overwhelmingly The Citizens Safety Committee also gave unanimous approval this month for another bill Jones authored SB that would add regulatory guardrails before the Department of State Hospitals releases sexually violent predators It s his fourth year in a row pushing that measure the proposal passed the Senate and died in the Assembly last year after failing to clear a single committee both years before that SB authored by a different Republican senator to increase penalties for selling or giving fentanyl to minors also got unanimous approval in the committee this month Freshman Sen Jesse Arregu n an Oakland Democrat who chairs the committee disclosed his fellow Democrats don t intend to return to an era of overcrowded prisons or harsh penalties for lower-level crimes But he acknowledged they re also shifting their thinking in response to their voters and called that approach pragmatic That was the direction I was given as chair of the General Safety Committee was that we need to provide more balance in terms of how we look at criminal justice agenda he announced referring to the Democratic caucus Just focusing specifically on restorative justice and prevention and not focusing on accountability for offenders that s not where the voters are now Criminal justice reforms still advancing So far the shift hasn t been enough to worry Tinisch Hollins executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice a group that advocates for reduced imprisonment and pushed for the sentencing changes that voters approved She pointed to bills her organization has sponsored that are also advancing through the Legislature including provision to expand the state s efforts to clear criminal records to give past offenders second chances and to require that the California Department of Corrections apply more good behavior credits to reduce prisoners time served With the state tight on cash she explained she doesn t believe lawmakers will be eager to significantly increase imprisonment and sees a consensus that we shouldn t go back that way Even Prop wasn t a referendum on change Hollins mentioned There s still plenty of promotion for different approaches to population safety that really address the root cause and prevent crime from happening in the first place Any stricter measures the Legislature approves this year will ultimately be narrow with Republicans pointing to extreme examples to push their situation State Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones a San Diego Republican during the state Senate Appropriations Committee session in Sacramento on Sept Photo by Rahul Lal for CalMatters Jones elderly parole bill targets a activity the Corrections Department first created in in response to a court order to reduce prison crowding that allows prisoners who are older than and have served at least years of their sentences to petition for release He tried in to restrict those convicted of sex offenses from being eligible the bill never got a hearing In lawmakers quietly lowered the eligibility for particular prisoners to age if they ve served at least years though a multitude of have not been approved for release The following year Jones proposed a bill undoing that change for sex offenders which went nowhere Between January and June the Board of Parole Hearings circulated people through the elderly parole initiative corrections spokesperson Emily Humpal wrote in an email Department details analyzed by CalMatters show that while more people have been published under the elder activity since the rates at which the board grants parole fluctuate between and each year hovering just above the board s overall parole-granting rate The department would not right away provide a breakdown of their convictions nor of how a great number of of those issued were between the ages of and Now people in the present imprisoned nearly of the prison population are eligible for either form of elderly parole Humpal declared Jones bill would bar those convicted of sexual felonies such as rape and child sexual abuse from parole eligibility at age It would not affect their eligibility upon turning or the parole eligibility date in their original sentences He also proposed blocking the earlier eligibility from people convicted of murder but Arregu n s committee removed that provision with Jones agreement before voting to advance the bill Proponents of the measure including San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan say casualties shouldn t be forced to relive the trauma of parole hearings and the prospect of their abusers release before the end of their original sentences They point to Mary Johnson who identified herself as the childhood victim of rape and sexual abuse by her uncle The abuser Cody Klemp was originally sentenced in the s to years In under the elderly parole project the Board of Parole Hearings recommended his release then rescinded the decision last year His next hearing is scheduled for Suddenly I was no longer a -year-old woman but I was a -year-old trapped and powerless and fighting again Johnson reported in a press conference No victim s family should have to fight over and over again to ensure that a dangerous predator serves the sentence that they were given Closing the doors on the rehabilitated A group of criminal justice improvement and civil rights advocates including the American Civil Liberties Union opposes the bill arguing it would close the door on those who have been rehabilitated in prison and pose less of a constituents safety exposure Studies have ascertained the chances of re-offense decrease as a defendant ages Gary Harrell who was given a life sentence for his participation in a murder testified that despite becoming eligible for parole in he wasn t disclosed until about years later after he had gone before the parole board about times He commented in the last two decades of his incarceration he turned his life around and now works a day job while in his spare time giving homeless Sacramento residents food and hygiene products I have taken so much from others and now it s time to give back and do my part to make the world a better place he declared I hope you can see that the people who will be impacted by this bill are people like me who have changed and want to give back Arregu n explained he proposed removing Jones exclusion of people convicted of murder to focus the bill on sex offenses That tactic has yielded bipartisan backing in the last legislative session In Republican Sen Shannon Grove of Bakersfield pushed a bill to increase penalties for child sex trafficking Democrats in the Assembly Community Safety Committee resisted but after a population outcry Gov Gavin Newsom stepped in with rare masses comments in encouragement of the ordinance which ultimately won more Democratic backing and his signature Last year Grove s bill to increase penalties for soliciting a minor for prostitution targeting the buyers of sex also prevailed Senate Democrats carved out exclusions for - and -year-olds who are allegedly solicited out of concern it would inadvertently rope in older teenagers who aren t indeed involved in or casualties of trafficking The legal age of consent is This year Grove is turning heads with a bill Assembly Bill co-authored with an Assembly Democrat to undo those exclusions and apply the changes to all minors Jones acknowledged the tactic of focusing on sexual offenses is an incremental step toward tightening criminal sentences overall We re smart enough to know how far we can go he reported CalMatters is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that probe explain and explore solutions to quality of life issues while holding our leaders accountable