Crime

California Ends Mandatory Minimums for Non-Violent Drug Offenses, Ending Archaic War on Drugs Era Policy

The bill, authored by state Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco and Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo of Los Angeles, was backed by a coalition of state and national groups, including the California Public Defenders Association, Drug Policy Alliance, and Families Against Mandatory Minimums, and a range of drug treatment professional.

Published

3 years ago

October 7, 2021

Isabelle Price

An injectable drug is loaded into a syringe while prescription medication is strewn about haphazardly.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Tuesday to end mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses, laying to rest an archaic vestige of the War on Drugs and “tough-on-crime” policy era in California and acting on the recommendations of a state commission created to suggest changes to California’s criminal justice system.

SB7 ends mandatory minimum sentencing for non-violent drug offenses, giving judges the discretion to assign alternative consequences, such as probation, treatment, or rehabilitative programs, where determined appropriate. Current law prohibits judges from doing so even for drug offenses involving marijuana, which the state has legalized for recreational use and licensed sale.

Such mandated sentencing, implemented in the late 1980s at the height of the War on Drugs, has been criticized for its role in mass incarceration and, in recent years, critics have pointed out that the laws reflect the difference in the government’s approach to the crack cocaine epidemic, which disproportionately impacted African Americans, and the opioid addiction crisis, which has heavily impacted white Americans. Some other states have already repealed their mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

“Our prisons and jails are filled with people — particularly from communities of color — who have committed low-level, nonviolent drug offenses and who would be much better served by non-carceral options like probation, rehabilitation and treatment,” Weiner said in a written statement after Newsom’s signing. “[SB7] is an important measure that will help end California’s system of mass incarceration.”

The Committee on Revising the Penal Code, a committee established in 2019 to recommend changes to California’s criminal laws, recommended ending mandatory minimums in California in its first annual report in 2020. “Aspects of California’s criminal legal system are undeniably broken,” the report stated at the time. “The current system has racial inequity at its core,” and “people of color are disproportionately punished under state laws.”

Ending mandatory minimums was just one of 10 recommendations made by the committee. Others included establishing a process for reviewing the sentences of people already sentenced under unduly harsh sentencing laws, eliminating incarceration for certain traffic offenses, and requiring that short prison sentences be served in county jail instead of prison.

Legislators are considering some of the committee’s other recommendations.

This story was written using information from the Drug Policy Alliance and the Committee on Revising the Penal Code.

Isabelle Price

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Oakland Post: Week of October 9 – 15, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 9 – 15, 2024

Published

18 hours ago

October 13, 2024

Oakland Post

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Remembering Khadafy Washington: His Memory Has Inspired Hope and Healing in Oakland for 24 years

August marks the 24th anniversary of the shooting death of Khadafy Washington. Washington was only 18 years old when he was killed at McClymonds High School just months after his graduation in August 2000.

Published

2 weeks ago

October 1, 2024

Oakland Post

Marilyn Washington-Harris, posted 19 billboards around Oakland with the picture of her murdered son, Khadafy Washington, and the blaring question: Do You Know Who Killed Me?

By Brigitte Cook

August marks the 24th anniversary of the shooting death of Khadafy Washington.

Washington was only 18 years old when he was killed at McClymonds High School just months after his graduation in August 2000.

At McClymonds, Washington was the captain of the football team and a talented athlete who enjoyed working out. At 5’6,” he impressed his bigger and taller teammates with his ability to lift 350lbs and to toe-to-toe with them on the gridiron.

Preparing for the future, Washington enrolled in Laney College with dreams of continuing his football career and ultimately transferring to a college in Florida. However, those dreams were abruptly and violently ended.

The young athlete and rising star loved his family and friends, and they loved him, too — especially his sisters and his West Oakland community.

For 24 years now, Washington’s family has been searching for answers and struggling with deep sorrow and grief stemming from his tragic, senseless and untimely death. During the months following his murder, outraged and in pain, Washington’s mother, Marilyn Washington-Harris, posted 19 billboards around the city with his picture and the blaring question: Do You Know Who Killed Me?

Those signs were stark reminders to a city sometimes in denial that too many of its young men were dying violent deaths. Soon she was organizing marches to bring attention to Oakland’s problem with violence, and to the lasting pain families of victims endure. Privately, Washington-Harris would reach out to individual families in the immediate aftermath of a homicide, sending them mementos and reminders that they were not forgotten. In their weakest moments, she protected them from exploitation, scraped up funds for the mostly poor families so that they could bury their dead with dignity and grace, and continued to counsel and care for them as they tried to heal and recover.

As Washington-Harris’s mission grew and evolved, she founded the Khadafy Washington Foundation for Non-Violence to continue to support the thousands of family members of the well-over 2500 people that have been killed in Oakland since that fateful night in 2000.

Even though she has dedicated her life to helping and supporting those who have lost loved ones, Washington-Harris still struggles with the hurt and pain of losing her only son every day. She said, “It comes just like a storm – sometimes it comes quietly and sometimes it is raging. But it never goes away.”

Her plea is that those responsible for his murder be held accountable and her family, and all families like hers, receive the justice they deserve.

Washington-Harris is a founding member of the Family Support Advocates with the Violence Prevention Coalition, advocating for legislation and policies to support all crime victims and especially family members of homicide victims.

FAMILY SUPPORT ADVOCACY TASK FORCE

The mission of the Family Support Advocacy Task Force, a committee of the Violence Prevention Coalition, is to advocate for local, state and federal policies and legislation to enhance and expand support to families and friends of those who experienced violence; for more compassionate and transparent communication between law enforcement, the district attorney with the family of homicide victims and to push for the elimination of all violence, but particularly gun violence and homicides.