Susan Sher, a newcomer to Ukiah’s City Council but a longtime leftist, has made clear her opposition to Prop 36, an initiative that would roll back many of the leniencies voters (including me) approved in the last election cycle.
As is often the case, new laws led to unexpected consequences, and in this case brought crime spikes across the state. Sher does not quibble or disagree with the statistics and anecdotal evidence of increased lawlessness, but insists “Prop 36 is the wrong solution.”
Her letter is honest and frank, her sympathies clear. She is concerned that Prop 36 might bring unwanted harm and discomfort to a select segment of society: drug sellers, addicts and felons of all sorts.
She never mentions crime impacting people, families, businesses or quality of life in cities and towns all across California. She complains bitterly that crime-doers will not be provided sufficient opportunities for more rehabilitation services.
Of the victims she says nothing. No acknowledgments, no condolences and certainly no relief for those preyed upon by criminals. But if a felon with six prison priors suffers possible reduced rehabilitation services, she pleads and wails for more help, more chances, more rehab, more understanding and less incarceration.
It is to weep.
Readers may think I exaggerate. What follows are quotes from Susan Sher; translate their meaning any way you wish:
SHER: “Prop 36 increases prison time for those who use drugs despite evidence that imprisonment does not reduce drug use.” (NOTE: Prison is actually an excellent rehab environment. A few years in prison guarantees clean & sober outcomes.)
SHER: “Charging people with serious crimes that could result in punishment or jail is not going to lead to treatment. While it mandates drug treatment in some cases it will reduce funding and availability of treatment.”
SHER: “Under Prop 36 someone who enters rehab and relapses as is common could be subject to incarceration for failing to complete the treatment program.”
SHER: “There are now comprehensive enhancements for both retail theft and drug sales, particularly Fentanyl, for which there is now a 3-year sentence enhancement for anyone selling more than a kilogram.”
(NOTE: A kilo of Fentanyl kills from 15,000 to 50,000 people.)
SHER: “If passed Prop 36 will see more people cycling in and out of prison cells without a chance to get better. Prop 36 fails to address the root causes of homelessness…”
(NOTE: Prop 36 also fails to address root causes of poverty, obesity, and why The Beatles broke up.)
Maybe she is not kidding.
RE: Sher does not quibble or disagree with the statistics and anecdotal evidence of increased lawlessness, but insists “Prop 36 is the wrong solution.”
—> November 3, 2024
Supporters say by creating a new “treatment-mandated felony” classification for repeat drug offenders, Prop. 36 would incentivize treatment over prison time. They also argue the measure would give prosecutors more tools to help reduce retail and property crimes.
But opponents of Prop. 36 point out that it comes with no way to fund more treatment. Both sides also disagree on how to pay for the tens of millions of dollars in expected jail, prison and treatment costs if the ballot measure passes in the November election.
While it aims to provide more “accountability” to repeat theft and drug offenders, many supporters say they want to enforce it in a targeted and even-handed way that isn’t just about locking people up and throwing away the key.
– Sacramento Bee via Marin Independent Journal
The full text of Prop 36 is fairly detailed and nuanced, including such things as judges discretion. It’s not “just about locking people up and throwing away the key”. But the criminal activity it’s aimed at is a widespread social problem only getting worse. A sign of our troubled times.
“Treatment” has become an often expensive catch-all phrase – and now an industry – that assumes rehabilitation can be coerced or bought. Problematic behavior only stops when the subject comes to an internal decision to change their ways, treatment or not. Otherwise, the bad apples need to be separated for the sake of the rest.