California now has tougher penalties for shoplifting and drugs

Proposition 36 takes effect Wednesday and increases penalties for some thefts and drug crimes.

Prop 36, approved by voters in a landslide last month, reverses some of the changes made in Proposition 47, which took effect 10 years ago.

The higher $950 threshold at which negligent theft becomes a felony no longer exists, and with the return to $450, supporters hope to prevent some of the robberies that have plagued local businesses since the COVID-19 -hit pandemic.

Prop 36, which would increase penalties for theft and drug arrests, was approved by California voters

As CalMatters points out, Prop 36 also “created a new category of crime – a ‘treatment-requiring crime.’

“People who don’t contest the charges could complete drug treatment instead of going to prison, but if they don’t complete treatment they still face up to three years in prison,” the outlet noted.

But critics say the harsher sentences are a return to mass incarceration strategies of the past and will cost too much. State officials say the cost could be hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

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