SAN FRANCISCO — (INT) - Proposition 47, the state measure approved by voters in 2014 that reduced penalties for some property and drug crimes, did not lead to a rise in violent crime, a new study concluded. However, larcenies did go up—driven by an increase in thefts from motor vehicles.

Proposition 47 also helped reduce the state’s stubbornly high recidivism rates, but the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) found it was due in part to changes in law enforcement and prosecutorial practices.

These are the key findings of a new report, The Impact of Proposition 47 on Crime and Recidivism, released Tuesday by the PPIC.

Proposition 47 continued the state’s efforts to reduce incarceration. By the end of 2016, California’s prison and jail populations had dropped by more than 15,000 inmates, and the incarceration rate is now at levels not seen since the early 1990s.

Story Date: June 25, 2018