SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Gov. Jerry Brown dramatically altered California’s criminal sentencing system when he was first governor a generation ago.
Now he is asking voters to partly change it back by giving corrections officials more say in when criminals are released and stripping prosecutors of the power to decide when juveniles should be tried as adults. He says both would help rein in a legal code that he believes has tilted too far in favor of get-tough policies.
His Proposition 57 on the Nov. 8 ballot alarms many law enforcement officials, coming after a jump in crime last year and major policy shifts in the last five years that have put California on the national forefront of reducing mass incarceration.
The state shifted responsibility for many felons from state prisons to county jails in 2011 to reduce prison overcrowding. Voters have supported reducing criminal penalties twice since then, revising California’s career criminal “three strikes” law in 2012 and lowering penalties for certain drug and property crimes in 2014.
