Name: Prop. 47 reduced racial disparities in California prisons, study finds
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Prop. 47 reduced racial disparities in California prisons, study finds

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By | | Bay Area News GroupThe measure passed by California voters in 2014 to reduce penalties for some low-level offenses has helped close the racial disparity in the state’s prison population, .Since Proposition 47 became law, reducing most drug and theft charges from felonies to misdemeanors, Black Californians are far less likely to be arrested on felony drug or property crime charges than before but still have significantly higher booking rates than white and Latinx residents, researchers at the Public Policy Institute of California discovered.The result: a narrowing of the gap in arrests and bookings — and, therefore, prison and jail populations — between Black and white Californians.Researchers studied arrest data from the state Department of Justice between 2013 and 2016 and found the law has resulted in a significant decrease in felony bookings with only a modest increase in misdemeanors.“The fact that the substantial changes we report here are sudden, sharp, limited to Prop 47 offenses, and coincident with the reform, strongly suggests that they are driven by the reclassification of some drug and property offenses,” researchers wrote in the study.Those who do remain in prison more accurately reflect the society outside. Before Proposition 47, Black inmates made up about 4.5 percentage points more of the prison population than white inmates. Since its passage, researchers found that number has fallen to 2.8 percentage points — a 36% reduction in that disparity. California’s overall population is about 6.5% Black vs. 36.5% white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.The law has made its biggest impact on the racial disparity of arrests and bookings for drug and property crime. Overall, the gap in arrests for those crimes between white and Black people shrank by 24%, while the disparity in bookings narrowed by 33%. When looking just at felony offenses, the gaps in arrests and bookings closed by 36% and 55%, respectively.While it has made an impact in racial justice, the original intent of the law was to reduce a rapidly growing prison population. It was one of a handful of measures passed by voters in the wake of a federal court order to reduce prison overcrowding. Their combined effects have decreased the number of inmates in California by 44,000, or about 25%, since its peak in 2006.By reclassifying certain crimes, felony bookings fell by 30% while the increase in misdemeanor bookings made up only about half that, resulting in an overall drop of about 10% in jail bookings after Prop. 47 took effect. Misdemeanors, therefore, accounted for a larger portion of arrests (from 65% to 75%), which led to fewer arrests resulting in suspects being booked into jail (from 74% of arrests to 71%).While the largest drop in bookings came among the white population — a 10.9% decrease, largely driven by low-level drug offenses — African-Americans experienced the largest drop in arrests (not every arrest leads to a booking). The decrease in arrest rate for African-Americans (from 9,804 per 100,000 to 9,307) was more than three times that of white people (from 3,603 to 3,469) and twice that of Latinos (from 4,029 to 3,808).Proposition 47 appears to have made a larger impact on drug crimes than theft. Before the measure was voted into law, drug offenses accounted for more felony arrests than property crimes. Now, property crime accounts for a larger share of felony arrests and bookings.in 2018, which showed the law reduced recidivism in the state, also showed an increase in property crime since the law was passed.We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.Get Morning Report and other email newslettersFollow UsMost PopularClose

By | | Bay Area News GroupThe measure passed by California voters in 2014 to reduce penalties for some low-level offenses has helped close the racial disparity in the state’s prison population, .Since Proposition 47 became law, reducing most drug and theft charges from felonies to misdemeanors, Black Californians are far less likely to be arrested on felony drug or property crime charges than before but still have significantly higher booking rates than white and Latinx residents, researchers at the Public Policy Institute of California discovered.The result: a narrowing of the gap in...

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Evan Webeck

Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting. See the latest news from throughout the East Bay, including Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

Prop. 47 reduced racial disparities in California prisons, study finds

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