“I disagree with the idea that California is moving further to the right when it comes to the bad old days of mass incarceration,” he said. “I think on some issues, yes, voters are frustrated by a sense of insecurity – although those feelings are often not grounded in data in terms of your likelihood of being victimized by property crime or a crime against the person.”

Ocen said the Yes to 36 campaign focuses on the “feeling of insecurity and uncertainty” that highlights the most visible elements of crime during the pandemic. Although in general violent and financial crime rates much closer to them historic lows Since the pandemic, some visible crimes, such as theft and car break-ins, have increased beyond their peaks until at least 2023, the last year for which statistics are available.

“There’s a frustration that in addition to routinely seeing homeless people on the streets, feelings of unrest are also emerging, even if they don’t show up in the data,” Ocen said.

End of September survey It showed that probably as many voters support expanding treatment and rehabilitation as those who advocate harsher sentences.

Supporters of the measure insist the changes would not require mass incarceration of the kind that led to California’s overcrowded prison problem in the 1990s and 2000s.

What Californians see in their city centers

Claudia Oliveira, CEO of the Downtown Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, said businesses in the city’s commercial district have had to make adjustments to combat retail theft since the pandemic — she said Burlington Coat Factory moved all of its products in-store. Due to repeated thefts on the ground floor, it remained on the second floor for a while.

“It’s not something we should be angry about, but it’s even sadder that we’re in a place where people are not healthy and people are still living in poverty and having to steal,” he said.

“Sometimes people say, ‘It’s just a property crime, so why do you care, they have insurance.’ This is not always true. They have exemptions. I’ve seen small businesses close after being looted. “And it’s not always true that they have the resources to get back on their feet, especially in the city centre.”

Oliveira said he could not vote on Proposition 36 because he is undocumented. But he said he supported the measure because he expected it would connect people with substance abuse or mental health issues to social services and prevent theft on the scale California has seen since the beginning of the pandemic.

Jeff Ashook, 48, said his life in downtown Los Angeles has taken a turn for the worse.

“I started working in downtown Los Angeles before the pandemic, and I was living in Glendale at the time, and yes, I parked about a half-mile from where I worked,” he said. “And I felt safe going to work. I did.

“Post-pandemic; homeless people came back, but police officers never came back.”

Ashook said he currently lives downtown but commutes five blocks to work because he fears for his safety.

“And I actually had co-workers who were physically assaulted. “A couple of my co-workers had to go to the hospital during that short walk,” he said. “So yeah, like I said, it made me a little more exhausted.”

Ultimately, Ashook said he could not support Proposition 36 due to the projected costs.

“I don’t like the financial impact to range from a few tens of millions of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said. “That’s a lot of money. And it doesn’t say where this money comes from.”

Voters are changing their priorities on California crime

Ultimately, Lofstrom said, voting for Proposition 47 in 2014 and Proposition 36 this year wasn’t actually a contradiction.

The state needed it urgently in 2014. reduce the prison populationfor practical reasons and due to a judicial order stipulating that the population should not exceed 137.5% of the prison system capacity.

Today, he said, the urgency is moving in the other direction. But the underlying reasons for the increase in shoplifting and general property crime are still unclear, he said.

“We don’t know what is contributing to the increase in retail thefts. “We don’t know how much of this is due to economic and social challenges that lead to shoplifting,” he said.

Although Proposition 36 is on the books, Lofstrom said much about implementing the measure has yet to be determined.

“Will the police arrest you for this?” he asked. “Will prosecutors pursue these charges? “It’s unclear how all this will play out.”

Joe Garcia is a member of California Local News