{"id":2265,"date":"2020-01-19T11:00:47","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T18:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=2265"},"modified":"2020-01-17T14:26:57","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T21:26:57","slug":"senate-committee-rejects-senator-patricia-bates-effort-to-fix-flaws-in-recent-criminal-justice-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=2265","title":{"rendered":"Senate Committee Rejects Senator Patricia Bates\u2019 Effort to Fix Flaws in Recent Criminal Justice Reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

SACRAMENTO \u2013 The Senate Public Safety Committee today rejected\u00a0Senate Bill 710<\/a>\u00a0(\u201cKeeping California Safe Act\u201d) authored by Senator Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) that would have alleviated the unintended and dangerous consequences of recent criminal justice reforms enacted in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Legislature passed on a golden opportunity to fix the flaws in well-meaning criminal justice reforms enacted in recent years,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0said Senator Bates.\u00a0\u201cFor example, my bill would have redefined brutal crimes such as rape of an unconscious person and felony assault with a deadly weapon as \u2018violent,\u2019 preventing the early release of dangerous criminals. Law-abiding Californians deserve better.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

SB 710 would have addressed four major flaws of prior criminal justice reforms approved by the Legislature and California\u2019s voters:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n
  1. Misclassification of Violent Felonies<\/li>\n
  2. DNA Testing<\/li>\n
  3. Parole Hearings and Violations<\/li>\n
  4. Serial Theft<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    More information about SB 710 can be found below.<\/p>\n

    Misclassification of Violent Felonies<\/u><\/strong>
    \nSB 710 reclassifies the violent crimes wrongfully classified as \u201cnon-violent,\u201d and, therefore, misdemeanors under Prop. 47. Crimes that will be reclassified as \u201cviolent felonies\u201d include rape of an unconscious person, felony domestic violence, and other similar violent crimes. Individuals convicted of such violent crimes will no longer be eligible for early release under Prop. 57 since their crimes will now be classified as felonies.<\/p>\n

    When Prop. 57 (2016) was marketed to the public, the proponents promised that individuals convicted of violent crimes, such as rape of an unconscious person and pimping a child, would not be released from prison. However, since the initiative\u2019s implementation, several court cases have proven that these violent criminals can be released early into neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

    For example, a California appellate judge ruled that a felon convicted of stabbing his girlfriend with a butcher knife, forcibly molesting his 11-year-old niece, and gang raping a 17-year-old pregnant teenager is now eligible for early release under Prop. 57. Violent criminals like that felon were not the people the voters believed would be released early when they passed Prop. 57.<\/p>\n

    DNA Testing<\/u><\/strong>
    \nSB 710 restores DNA collection for certain crimes that required DNA collection before their reclassification as misdemeanors under Prop. 47. SB 710 ensures that the DNA databank will continue to provide the answers needed to solve violent crimes and to exonerate the innocent.<\/p>\n

    Prop. 47 (2014) reclassified several felony offenses as misdemeanors. Once these offenses were classified as misdemeanors, law enforcement was no longer able to collect DNA samples from these offenders. Prop. 69 only allows DNA samples to be collected from individuals convicted of a felony.<\/p>\n

    One study done by the California Department of Justice found that 40% of the serious, violent crimes in the study were solved because of DNA samples taken upon arrest for drug and property crimes. Because these drug and property crimes are now misdemeanors, which no longer qualify for collection of DNA samples upon arrest under Prop. 47, over 40% of the murders, rapes, and robberies solved in this study would have remained unsolved if Prop. 47 was in effect at the time of the qualifying arrests.<\/p>\n

    Since the passage of Prop. 47, the DNA database has already experienced a dip in effectiveness, seeing 2,000 less hits. Without a robust DNA databank, law enforcement will not have the tools necessary to solve serious crimes efficiently and effectively.<\/p>\n

    Parole Hearings and Violations<\/u><\/strong>
    \nSB 710 requires the Board of Parole to consider an inmate\u2019s entire criminal history, including all current and past convictions, when deciding if the inmate will be released early on parole. Additionally, SB 710 gives the victims of the inmate the opportunity to submit statements to be considered in the inmate\u2019s parole hearing. SB 710 also requires a mandatory hearing for an inmate who violates the terms of her parole three times to determine whether her parole should be revoked.<\/p>\n

    Due to changes made by Assembly Bill 109 (2011), parole decisions are based solely on an inmate\u2019s commitment offense, not past offenses that may have been serious and violent. Additionally, current law does not provide substantive consequences for repeated violations of an inmate\u2019s parole.<\/p>\n

    One example that highlights the unintended consequences of current law is the murder of Whittier Police Officer Keith Boyer in 2017. Officer Boyer\u2019s murderer, Michael Christopher Mejia, had violated his parole and been \u201cflash incarcerated\u201d several times before he brutally murdered the officer.<\/p>\n

    Serial Theft<\/u><\/strong>
    \nSB 710 deters repeat petty theft offenders by adding a felony for \u201cserial theft.\u201d This felony would be triggered when an individual who has two prior theft convictions is convicted of a third theft conviction of property taken that exceeds $250.<\/p>\n

    Prop. 47 changed the threshold, from $450 to $950, for theft to be considered a felony. This means that as long as an individual steals less than $950 worth of merchandise, they will only be charged with a misdemeanor, no matter how many times they commit this offense. As a result, many communities have seen more repeat petty theft offenders or \u201cserial theft,\u201d and an inability of law enforcement to prosecute these crimes effectively.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    SACRAMENTO \u2013 The Senate Public Safety Committee today rejected\u00a0Senate Bill 710\u00a0(\u201cKeeping California Safe Act\u201d) authored by Senator Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) that would have alleviated the unintended and dangerous consequences of recent criminal justice reforms enacted in California. \u201cThe Legislature passed on a golden opportunity to fix the flaws in well-meaning criminal justice reforms enacted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"yoast_head":"\nSenate Committee Rejects Senator Patricia Bates\u2019 Effort to Fix Flaws in Recent Criminal Justice Reforms - San Diego News Desk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=2265\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate Committee Rejects Senator Patricia Bates\u2019 Effort to Fix Flaws in Recent Criminal Justice Reforms - San Diego News Desk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SACRAMENTO \u2013 The Senate Public Safety Committee today rejected\u00a0Senate Bill 710\u00a0(\u201cKeeping California Safe Act\u201d) authored by Senator Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) that would have alleviated the unintended and dangerous consequences of recent criminal justice reforms enacted in California. \u201cThe Legislature passed on a golden opportunity to fix the flaws in well-meaning criminal justice reforms enacted...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=2265\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"San Diego News Desk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-19T18:00:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-17T21:26:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/patbates.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"San Diego News Desk\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/\",\"sameAs\":[],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Logo-SanDiegoNewsDesk-Article.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Logo-SanDiegoNewsDesk-Article.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"San Diego News Desk\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/\",\"name\":\"San Diego News Desk\",\"description\":\"Your Source for News in San Diego\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=2265#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/patbates.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/patbates.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=2265#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=2265\",\"name\":\"Senate Committee Rejects Senator Patricia Bates\\u2019 Effort to Fix Flaws in Recent Criminal Justice Reforms - 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