![]() ![]() LOWER-LEVEL FELONY OFFENDERS whose current and prior convictions are non-violent, non-sex-related, and non-serious (referred to as "non-non-non's) will now serve their sentence under county jurisdiction rather than in state prison. While AB 109 is comprehensive and complex, it primarily affects three major groups:ġ. Key Components of California's Public Safety Realignment Act (AB 109) Additionally, we provide analysis and data where available to begin the process of answering these important questions. Additionally, we provide analysis and data where available to begin the process of answering these important issues at stake. For each of these questions, we attempt to identify the important issues at stake. In this brief and an accompanying article,¹ we proceed as follows: First, we provide a brief overview of the key components of AB 109 and second, we discuss in turn the ten critical questions that everyone should be asking about California's Realignment. ![]() To understand how Realignment impacts criminal justice broadly, we should be asking ten essential, interdependent questions: (1) Have prison populations been reduced and medical care sufficiently improved to raise prison medical care to a constitutional level? (2) What is its impact on victim safety and victims' rights? (3) Will more offenders participate in evidence-based treatment programs, and will their recidivism be reduced? (4) Will there be equitable sentencing and access to treatment across counties? (5) What is the impact on jails (e.g., crowding, conditions, and litigation)? (6) What is the impact on police, prosecution, defense, and judges? (7) What is the impact on probation and parole? (8) What will be the impact on crime rates and community life? (9) How much will Realignment cost, and who will shoulder the cost? (10) Has the total number of people under criminal justice supervision increased? Unlike some previous California initiatives, the Legislature allocated no funding for an independent statewide evaluation or cost-benefit analysis. Despite this fact, little has been done to consider Realignment's impact broadly, or to evaluate its statewide impact on crime, incarceration, justice agencies, costs, or offender recidivism. California's Realignment is the biggest penal experiment in modern history. To date, over 100,000 offenders have had their sentences altered due to AB 109. ![]() AB 109 not only shifted vast discretion for managing these lower level offenders from the state to the county, but also allocated over $2 billion in just the first two years for local programs. Plata declaring California's prison conditions to violate the 8th Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment, and at a time when California faced a projected $26 billion state budget deficit. This dramatic piece of legislation resulted from the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. ![]() On October 1, 2011, the Public Safety Realignment Act (Assembly Bill 109) went into effect and comprehensively changed the way California manages its non-serious, non-violent, non-sexual offenders. Used with permission of Joan Petersillia Governor, Realign yourself with the Courts!ġ0 Questions Everyone Should Ask about California's Prison Realignment Box 71, Olivehurst, CA 95961 53 Printing provided by Carole Urie, Returning Home Foundation, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 March 2013 Published by Barbara Brooks, Sentencing and Justice Reform Advocacy (SJRA) Vol.5. ![]()
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