The Safe Neighborhoods And Schools Act is a California statute adopted by ballot initiative as Proposition 47 of 2014. The legislation was intended to reduce the number of prisoners in California prisons by reclassifying some nonviolent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. The legislation also allowed those who are already serving time in prison or have already been convicted to petition a court to retroactively reduce their sentence to a misdemeanor.

Critics of the act blame the law for an increase in theft. The law has also been blamed for contributing to California’s homelessness problem.

Legal Effects

Proposition 47 reduced penalties for certain nonviolent property and drug crimes. It also allowed prisoners who have been previously convicted of these crimes to petition for reduced sentences. The savings from the legislation were to be placed into programs to support truancy prevention, mental health, substance abuse treatment, and victim services. 0){ let parent=divs[divs.length-1].parentNode; let footer=divs[divs.length-1]; delete divs[divs.length-1]; for (let i=2; i