Last November, 64 percent of California voters approved Proposition 57, which allows for the early release of so-called “non violent” offenders from state prison. Ahead of the vote, one of the biggest critics of the proposition was Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims, who criticized the proposal for the lack of specificity in defining how the law would be implemented. At issue – what exactly would be considered a “nonviolent” offense and what wouldn’t be.
Now, over nine months later, those details are again back in the news. The draft regulations were released this spring, and are set for final approval this fall. The Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert recently criticized the process in an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee, saying the state isn’t giving prosecutors enough time to review cases. She also raised concerns similar to ones aired by Mims last year, saying the state's definition of what is and isn't a violent felony crime under the California Penal Code leaves out too many crimes that many people would assume are "violent" but aren't defines as such.
Sheriff Mims recently joined us to talk about how the process is going, and why she still has the same concerns about the proposition she talked about last year.
