Public Safety

We know over-policing and over-incarceration do not work, which is why Californians overwhelmingly support, voted for, and demand data-informed public safety solutions and criminal justice reform. 

The research is clear – over-policing and incarcerating more people doesn’t lower crime.  What prevents crime and keeps our communities safe is education, health, economic equality, and prevention.

Proposition 36 Implimentation

In November 2024, California voters approved Proposition 36, which extends “three strikes”-style sentencing to low-level nonviolent drug and theft offenses. It will cost California millions to billions each year and cut funding from crime prevention programs that keep communities safe, like mental health and drug treatment, housing services, and K-12 school programs. During the 2025-2026 legislative cycle, California legislators will determine the budget for the implementation of Prop 36.

What does Prop 36 do?
Prop 36 both rolls back Prop 47 and adds new penalties for drug use and a broad range of theft offenses, and it adds new sentencing enhancements that will apply to any type of crime. For example:

• If someone gets caught possessing a small amount of drugs three or more times, they could go to jail or prison for up to three years.
• If someone gets arrested for low-level theft three or more times, including something as simple as returning a rental car late or stealing a sandwich, they could go to jail or prison for up to three years.

Key Findings:

• Comparing 1990 to 2024 shows property crime rates have fallen by 65% and violent crime rates fell by more than half, including a 68% decline in homicides.
• Comparing 1990 to 2023, youth arrests are down 90%, youth referrals to probation are down 88%, and youth incarceration is down 90%.
• Law enforcement cleared (solved) just 13.8% of all reported crimes in 2023, including just 7.8% of property crimes. 
• Statewide, law enforcement received $26 billion in funding in 2023, nearly $700 per Californian. 

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Community Safety Resources

Solutions that Keep People Safe & Keep Communities Whole:

Increase reentry infrastructure: Employment is associated with far lower rates of reoffending, and higher wages are associated with lower rates of criminal activity. Health care, housing, and transportation services are also key to reducing recidivism. And yet according to the Urban Institute, very few people leaving prison receive assistance obtaining these things, including in California.

Support survivors: Right now, we mainly provide crime survivors with one option to heal: prosecution. This is not actually a very good one. We should fund trauma care, including at emergency rooms, health services, and financial support for all people who experience harm, even when the prosecution cannot prove a case in criminal court.

Support survivors: Right now, we mainly provide crime survivors with one option to heal: prosecution. This is not actually a very good one. We should fund trauma care, including emergency rooms, health services, and financial support for all people who experience harm, even when the prosecution cannot prove a case in criminal court.

Help those struggling with substance use disorders: Invest in harm reduction techniques, like safe injection sites. Dramatically scale drug treatment facilities statewide, and end barriers to employment and housing for those who have drug convictions.

Dramatically increase mental health treatment: We should invest in crisis response teams that send social workers to assist those experiencing a mental health crisis. We must also dramatically increase the number of free treatment beds that are available.

Invest in known violence prevention programs: We should heavily invest in data-proven violence interrupters, who are credible messengers that can prevent retaliatory violence.

Help those struggling with substance use disorders: Invest in harm reduction techniques, like safe injection sites and readily available Narcan. Dramatically scale drug treatment facilities statewide, and end barriers to employment and housing for those who have drug convictions.

Expand Trauma Recovery Centers: The UCSF Trauma Recovery Center provides free support for victims who need mental health treatment and other services, at zero cost to the victim. These programs are critical because victimization– and especially being a victim of a gunshot wound– dramatically increases the risk of becoming an offender in the future.

All Californians should work together to make our communities safe. The best way to achieve safe communities for all Californians is by investing in community resources! 

Voting is how communities come together in solidarity and make – and protect – change.

• Protect: Our dollars. Our voice. Our vote. Our communities. 
• Vote and hold the police accountable. 
• Vote to invest in our communities.

Public safety is a priority for communities around the state, and we know what keeps us safe: comprehensive investments in every person’s health, and security, and a justice system that is fair and willing to hold everyone, including police and corporations, accountable for their actions. The most impacted communities have long demanded reforms to our economic and criminal justice systems and are leading in redefining justice to be more restorative and healing.

Californians Know the Truth:

MYTH/DISINFORMATION	TRUTH/FACTS
Asian American communities have experienced hate on levels that haven’t been seen in decades BUT we can’t ignore that this criminal activity was a byproduct of the GOP (and the president’s) racist rhetoric at the beginning of, and throughout, the pandemic. To combat this we need to build community, not further segregate folks through incarceration and divisive rhetoric.	“A long-range look at crime statistics, particularly homicide data, shows that the 2020 crime rate nationally and in California was still a fraction of its highs in the early 1990s, according to government statistics.”
Theft is at an all-time high	Asian American communities have experienced hate on levels that haven’t been seen in decades BUT we can’t ignore that this criminal activity was a byproduct of the GOP (and the president’s) racist rhetoric at the beginning of, and throughout, the pandemic. To combat this we need to build community, not further segregate folks through incarceration and divisive rhetoric.
Hate crimes have spiked	Asian American communities have experienced hate on levels that haven’t been seen in decades BUT we can’t ignore that this criminal activity was a byproduct of the GOP’s (and president’s) racist rhetoric at the beginning of, and throughout, the pandemic. To combat this we need to build community, not further segregate folks through incarceration and divisive rhetoric.

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