DA expresses disappointment at Prop. 57
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow.
To the editor,
I am deeply saddened that a majority of California voters were misled to believe that the early release of prisoners from state prison (Prop. 57) would only apply to truly nonviolent crimes.
The initiative system must be changed immediately to ensure in the future that voters are given the truth by an objective and independent third party. Sadly, an individual or group with millions of dollars and a few nice sounding buzzwords can buy the necessary votes to create a bad law by crafting a message that sounds great but in reality is not truthful.
Much progress made in the last 40 years in California to hold career criminals accountable has just been thrown out the window. Our office remains committed to our mission of pursuing justice for victims of crime and holding offenders accountable.
Dan Dow
San Luis Obispo District Attorney
Editor’s note: Prop. 57 was approved Tuesday night by 64-percent of California voters.
Prop. 57 ballot summary
- Allows parole consideration for persons convicted of nonviolent felonies, upon completion of prison term for their primary offense as defined.
- Authorizes Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to award sentence credits for rehabilitation, good behavior, or educational achievements.
- Requires Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to adopt regulations to implement new parole and sentence credit provisions and certify they enhance public safety.
- Provides juvenile court judges shall make determination, upon prosecutor motion, whether juveniles age 14 and older should be prosecuted and sentenced as adults for specified offenses.
