Shoplifters in California Arrested Under New Prop 36 Rules Are Shocked to Find That Stealing Is a Crime

On Nov. 5, despite near-universal opposition from their state's Democratic legislative majority, California residents passed Proposition 36, which made felonies out of some misdemeanors like shoplifting and forced many drug addicts off the streets and into treatment programs.

The measure passed by a 70% majority. Californians had seen enough of soaring retail theft, homelessness, drug deaths, and the breakdown of civilization that accompanied all of it.

“California voters have spoken with a clear voice on the triple epidemics of retail theft, homelessness and fatal drug overdoses plaguing our state,” said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. “In supporting Proposition 36, they said yes to treatment. They said yes to accountability. And they said yes to putting common sense before partisanship, so we can stop the suffering in our communities.”

It's going to take some time for the criminal element in California to get the message.

This is the best video you'll see today:

Repeat shoplifters in California learn the hard way that Prop. 36 is now in effect.

Watch until the end. pic.twitter.com/T0JePmhLVB

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 23, 2024

🚨 | LATEST NEWS: TRUMP'S IMPACT IN CALIFORNIA. Cops are now nabbing and locking up every store thief, no matter the haul, after the passage of Proposition 36. Justice is back on the streets. 🇺🇸
Are you in favor of this shift? pic.twitter.com/fsWHMDyDdt

— Juancho (@x_xJuanchox_xx) December 21, 2024

"It's a felony now?" asks the clueless female shoplifter sitting in the back of the police car. The fear in her voice is palpable. Anyone who says that there's no psychological effect on criminals by increasing penalties for crime is just wrong. 

After years of smash-and-grab robberies and shoplifting sprees, CA voters said they'd had enough. Prop. 36 goes into effect today, rolling back the criminal justice reforms that critics say fueled the state's crime spike. The harsher new penalties - This morning at 6 from ABC7. pic.twitter.com/MSxtKKyzuz

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) December 18, 2024

Hot Air's David Strom:

You know that progressivism is losing badly when even Californians get tired of being told to grin and bear the costs of informal reparations. Most Californians don't really want what the progressives are selling; they just think that if they disagree with the activists, they will be called bad people, and their friends will cancel them. 

Does this small victory suggest that California can be saved from itself? Not in itself. The administrative state is entrenched, the Democratic Party has money and a machine, and the public employees' unions have an iron grip on a large chunk of voters, so they only need to pick up a relatively small number of voters to keep winning every election that matters in the state. 

But it does suggest that a well-organized and well-funded state Republican Party could start making inroads if it focuses on the right issues and addresses the problems California cares about. With effort, money, and time Democrats' hold on the state could be loosened. 

I agree with David. Soon, the sob stories about mothers with babies being sent to jail for two years for shoplifting a couple of hundred dollars in makeup will enfold the airwaves. We can expect a lot of that. 

“What we might be seeing is evidence of a course correction of a long path of criminal justice reform efforts,” said Magnus Lofstrom, criminal justice policy director at the Public Policy Institute of California. Prop. 36 “targets crime and social problems that people can see: retail theft, more merchandise locked up, more viral videos (of thefts) and then the media talking about all of it.” 

So it's a PR problem, not a signal that civilization is on the ropes. If only we could hide the viral videos of smash-and-grab robberies and not talk about the locked cabinets that keep ordinary shaving blades away from prying hands, everything would be really great.

"Prop 36 takes us back to the 1980s mass incarceration," said Gov. Gavin Newsom during the campaign. "It promotes a promise that can't be delivered. I would ask those who support it, particularly mayors: Where are the treatment slots, where are the beds?"

Anyone with a minimal understanding of addiction knows that simply putting someone in a treatment facility for 90 days won't solve anything. There is a close to 90% recidivism rate for court-mandated drug treatment of long-term street users. However, the creators of Prop 36 needed to add the drug treatment section to get enough support to pass the entire package.

Coupled with the new California enforcement of camping restrictions, there's a chance that the drug bazaars and homeless encampments will be forced into the shadows again. The problems won't go away, but they won't affect the community's quality of life quite so much.