Last month, my job sent me to a slew of police community meetings. San Franciscans, angry that their Audis’ windows were smashed or their iPhone was stolen at 6th and Market, demanded answers. Like clockwork, the Captains leading the meeting shook their heads and told us, “It’s all the folks out of state prison because of Realignment. People who used to be in state prison, now they’re on our streets.”
Is it true?
Public Safety Realignment legislation AB109 (aka “Realignment”), redirected responsibility for those convicted of “non-serious, non-sexual, non-violent” crimes from state to county supervision. In 2009 (and again in 2012), the U.S. Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its prison population to 137 percent capacity. Governor Brown has performed political gymnastics in his attempts to evadethe order, all the while spreading the idea that Realignment will cause a crime wave. In 2013 he said, “…We'll have a list of 9,000 or 10,000 of our finer inmates that will be ready for neighborhood visitations throughout California." In reality, counties varied wildly on how many individuals they sent to state prison prior to 2011; the influx of AB109 clients to each county now varies accordingly.
San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi has a different perspective. He told me, “While other counties have seen steep increases in their jail population due to Realignment, San Francisco's jail population is nearly half of what it was before Realignment.” Linda Penner, chair of the state’s Board of State and Community Corrections, agreed with Adachi and has said, “San Francisco was ahead of the game before Realignment ever began.”
San Francisco police may be passing the buck re the city’s crime trends, but the issue is complex. Total crime in San Francisco has risen more than the state average since Realignment began. Is Realignment to blame?
To answer the question, we have to examine two separate issues. First, when Realignment increased the caseload of county probation departments, did counties see a corresponding increase in the county crime rate? Second, do the individuals formerly under state supervision and now under San Francisco’s Adult Probation (SFAPD), the AB109 population, pose a greater risk to public safety than they would have before?
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