Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, November 13, 2024…
- Supporters of criminal justice reform in California suffered some big losses in last week’s election. But people on both sides of the debate over crime and punishment say the election shouldn’t be seen as a renunciation of progressive reforms entirely.
- In the Central Valley, Republican Congressman David Valadao has won re-election, moving the GOP closer to control of the House.
- For the first time in history, women will make up at least half of the California State Senate.
Criminal Justice Advocates See Hope Despite Election Losses
Proposition 36, the ballot measure that increases criminal penalties for repeat thieves and drug users, easily passed. As of Wednesday morning, the yes vote sits at 69%.
The measure will roll back portions of Proposition 47. But Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig, who helped author Prop 36, said he doesn’t see this as a full-on return to tough on crime laws in California. “Prop 36 was a modest amendment to Prop 47. It wasn’t a total repudiation of all of the reforms. Prop 47 went too far,” he said. “And this kind of brings it back to the middle.”
Lenore Anderson, who wrote Prop 47 and has been a leading national voice for criminal justice reform as president of the Alliance for Safety and Justice, notes that Prop 36 was not framed to voters as a return to the lock-em-up policies of the 1990’s. “The proponents of the campaign talked about mass treatment. They talked about a balanced approach to public safety,” Anderson said. While she opposed Prop 36, Anderson says she believes it was successful precisely because it borrowed cues from the reform movement in focusing on rehabilitation over incarceration.
Rep. David Valadao Wins 22nd District
Republican Rep. David Valadao has won reelection in California’s 22nd Congressional District in the state’s Central Valley farm belt, defeating Democrat Rudy Salas for the second time.