Michele Hanisee has this post for the L.A. Association of Deputy District Attorneys with the above title.
As Governor Brown enters his final years in office, legislation he has proposed, signed and vetoed in the past year make it crystal clear he wants convicted criminals to serve as little time as possible. Three changes in the criminal justice system illustrate his beliefs.The post discusses Proposition 57, which we have discussed on this blog, SB 620, watering down the punishment for criminals who use a gun, and the Governor's veto of AB 1408, a bill that would have somewhat mitigated the harm caused by the ill-advised Realignment bill of several years ago, AB 109.
Governor Brown has in the past claimed that he seeks to make the criminal justice "more human, more just, and more cost-effective." It appears the Governor is eagerly pursuing the "cost-effective" portion of his statement by reducing punishment for crime in every way possible. But it will be victims who pay the price.
Governor Brown has put his money where his mouth is,
succeeding in making criminal activity in California:
'less punished, less deterred, and increasingly risk-free for perpetrators'.
Those who "abjure" violence can only do so because others
are committing violence on their behalf.
--Orwell, "Notes on Nationalism" (1945)