Democrats are SOFT on Crime! - True or False

[IcyPeas]

10. California's Prop 47 changed the law to change what were once felonies into misdemeanors

This Proposition is what is often brought up with the recent smash and grab thefts .... such as at Walgreens, Nordstrom all the smash and grab thefts that are going on in cities.

https://www.courts.ca.gov/prop47.htm

Theft Offenses
Proposition 4 7 created new misdemeanors and reclassified several felony theft offenses as misdemeanors. The new misdemeanor provisions do not apply to persons with one or more prior convictions for offenses under Penal Code section 667(e)(2)(C)(iv) or for sex offenses that require registration under Penal Code section 290(c). The new provisions include:

Shoplifting. The proposition added Penal Code section 459.5 to create a new misdemeanor offense called "shoplifting," punishable by up to 6 months in county jail. Shoplifting would be defined as "entering a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny while that establishment is open during regular business hours" where the value of the property does not exceed $950. Any other entry into a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny is burglary. Any act of shoplifting as defined above must be charged as shoplifting. No person charged with shoplifting may also be charged with burglary or theft of the same property.

Petty Theft. Proposition 47 added Penal Code section 490.2 to expressly define petty theft as “obtaining any property by theft where the value of the money, labor, real or personal property taken” does not exceed $950. This new definition of petty theft applies notwithstanding Section 487 “or any other provision of law defining grand theft.” (Pen. Code, § 490.2(a).) As such, the new definition of petty theft appears to apply regardless of how specific categories of property are treated under separate statutes. This new provision is not applicable to any theft that may be charged as an infraction “pursuant to any other provision of law.”

Receiving Stolen Property. Before Proposition 47, a violation of Penal Code section 496 was a wobbler offense, except that if the value of the property did not exceed $950, the district attorney or grand jury could specify the offense as exclusively a misdemeanor “in the interests of justice.” Proposition 4 7 rendered all violations of section 496 that do not exceed $950 as strictly misdemeanors, eliminating prosecutorial discretion to charge those offenses as felonies.

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