Date of Award

Spring 3-1-2016

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Abstract

Proposition 47 is a state initiative that was passed by California voters in November 2014. This new law reduces the classification of most "non-serious and non­violent property and drug crimes" from felonies to misdemeanors. As a result, drug users are being cited and released rather than being taken and jailed. After being cited, some drug users are never held accountable due to the common practice of local prosecutors not filing charges for these offenses. This results in individual law enforcement officers' reduction of self-initiated arrests for these types of offenses. A review of the scholarly literature summarizes Proposition 47, provides a review of discussions of current public safety, examines alternative enforcement practices as well as legal and political considerations that were considered before the passing of this bill. Data was collected in the form of a survey from sworn police officers employed within the agency of the area of research along with personal interviews with key informants from the local district attorney's office. A career criminal/drug addict was also interviewed for this study. Data collected identified areas of concern in regards to the lack of enforcement for certain crimes based on a comparison of the number of drug offense arrests under Proposition 47 before and after it took effect. The results of this study identified if the lowering of classification from felony to misdemeanor for these types of drug offenses have affected an officer's behavior in relation to self-initiated arrests for these types of drug offenses. This study attempts to determine if Prop 47 has led to or is leading towards a safer community.

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