California arrests fewer people, frees criminals – here’s what happened to crime

theblaze.com

California law enforcement policies are spurring heavy debate as some are pointing to plummeting arrests and early prison release for a spike in crime.

Fox News reported that many are blaming liberal law enforcement policies for the increase in crime, including early prison release. The program is supposed to decrease the number of persons imprisoned while keeping people safe, but critics say it does far too much of the former and does little if any of the latter.

Prosecutors and police have an explanation — a series of prison reform measures, which reduce the state prison population by 20,000 inmates by releasing non-violent offenders early and making some felonies misdemeanors. One law, Assembly Bill 109, transferred 60,000 felony parole violators a year from state prison to county control. The measure saved California $100 million but some argue it was not without casualties...

But crime in California is on the rise, despite the promise of liberal law enforcement policies to decrease the “cycle” of crime. A report from the Public Policy Institute of California for 2015 shows that violent crime rose by 8.4%, property crime was up by 6.6%, both violent crime and property crime increased in a majority of counties.