District 5 candidates on Prop. 36 increasing punishment for crimes

Here’s the latest in our “Meet the Candidates” series for District 5, in which we ask each candidate to answer one question per week leading up to the election. Four candidates are challenging incumbent Supervisor Dean Preston to represent District 5, which spans from the east end of Golden Gate Park through Haight-Ashbury, Japantown and the Western Addition, the Lower Haight and Hayes Valley, and most of the Tenderloin.

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Proposition 47, passed in 2014, made it so some non-violent theft and drug crimes could only be charged as misdemeanors in California. The law has been blamed for homelessness and brazen shoplifting — stealing items worth $950 or less became a misdemeanor under Prop. 47, as did low-level drug possession.

This year, legislators are trying to roll that back.

Proposition 36, a state ballot measure in the coming election, attempts to crack down on organized retail theft, and would allow people convicted of certain drug or theft crimes to face longer prison sentences. It also creates a new crime category, a “treatment-mandated felony,” which would have charged individuals attend treatment or serve prison time.

This week, we asked candidates: Do you support or oppose Prop. 36 and why? How will it affect District 5 and the city?

A few candidates said they support Prop. 36, one opposes, and one didn’t say.

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I support Prop. 36 and its much needed reforms on Prop. 47. I also support DA Jenkins, a fully funded SFPD, and believe we should amend our sanctuary policy to exclude convicted, undocumented fentanyl dealers.

Prop. 36 provides needed avenues for court-mandated treatment for specific drug possession crimes, with the option of charges being cleared post-treatment. It creates the possibility that dealers will be held accountable for murder when their product kills users*. It will help us get a handle on the organized retail theft that has been crushing our business community, and has escalating severity for repeat offenders. 

Any … read more.