The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014

Proposition 47: The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014 is an initiative for the November 2014 California ballot. Over the last 25 years there have been 1,000 changes made to the California penal code, many of those have made misdemeanor offenses become felonies. As a result, people of color have been highly impacted and continue reap the negative affects of mass incarceration in California. Annually, we spend $10 billion on the prison system with more than 130,000 people in prison at a yearly cost of $62,396.

Proposition 47 will permanently reduce incarceration and shift one $1 billion over the next five years alone to K-12 school programs and mental health and drug treatment. More specifically, Prop. 47 will:

• Reclassify six petty theft crimes including: petty theft , shoplifting, receipt of stolen property, writing a bad check, fraud, and drug possession (all under $950). 
• Create retroactive sentencing to those currently incarcerated and not at risk to public safety and any Californian with prior felony convictions (listed above).
• Re-allocate funds that will support rehabilitation; 65% will be shifted into mental health and drug treatment; 25% will support K-12 school programs; and 10% will go to victim services.

Hundreds of thousands of Californians that have paid the time for their crimes will now be able to fix their records which will ultimately eliminate the barriers to employment, housing, student loans, and public assistance. Prop. 47 will save billions in tax payers dollars and reduce the rates of recidivism so that children will not continue in the cycles of incarceration. 

For more information on The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act visit: http://www.safetyandschools.com/