Here are some examples of liberals not understanding economics. It is the citizens that are paying the price, not the criminals.
Perry Lutz says his struggle to survive as a small businessman became a lot harder after California voters reduced theft penalties 1½ years ago.
About a half-dozen times this year, shoplifters have stolen expensive drones or another of the remote-controlled toys he sells in HobbyTown USA, a small shop in Rocklin, northeast of Sacramento. “It’s just pretty much open season,” Lutz said. “They’ll pick the $800 unit and just grab it and run out the door.”
Anything below $950 keeps the crime a misdemeanor — and likely means the thieves face no pursuit and no punishment, say retailers and law enforcement officials. Large retailers including Safeway, Target, Rite Aid and CVS pharmacies say shoplifting increased at least 15 percent, and in some cases, doubled since voters approved Proposition 47 and ended the possibility of charging shoplifting as a felony with the potential for a prison sentence.
Shoplifting reports to the Los Angeles Police Department jumped by a quarter in the first year, according to statistics the department compiled for The Associated Press. The ballot measure also lowered penalties for forgery, fraud, petty theft and drug possession.
The increase in shoplifting reports set up a debate over how much criminals pay attention to penalties, and whether law enforcement is doing enough to adapt to the legal change.
Prosecutors, police and retailers, including California Retailers Association President Bill Dombrowski and CVS Health spokesman Mike DeAngelis, say the problem is organized retail theft rings whose members are well aware of the reduced penalties.
“The law didn’t account for that,” said Capt. John Romero, commander of the LAPD’s commercial crimes division. “It did not give an exception for organized retail theft, so we’re seeing these offenders benefiting and the retailers are paying the price.”
Lenore Anderson, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, who led the drive to pass Proposition 47, said law enforcement still has plenty of tools, including using the state’s general conspiracy law and proving that the same thief is responsible for multiple thefts that together top $950.
While misdemeanors, in theory, can bring up to a year in county jail, Fresno Police Sgt. Mark Hudson said it’s not worth it to issue a citation or arrest a suspect who would likely be immediately released because of overcrowding.
“We’ve heard of cases where they’re going into stores with a calculator so they can make sure that what they steal is worth less than $950,” said Robin Shakely, Sacramento County assistant chief deputy district attorney.
For Anderson and other bleeding hearts who want to coddle criminals and find all manner of reasons why a life of crime is not their fault, they will continue to insist that the laws of economics somehow are suspended when it comes to criminals. More recently the three strikes law was also amended in California, and low and behold, crime is up in several different indicators including violent crime and major felony categories.
Why?
Because it does not cost as much for the two time losers to commit that third felony. All thanks to the liberals who love to put the criminals before the citizens. Thank you very much.
Source: foxnews.com
That is what the DEMOCRAPS have done for California. Turning it into a 3rd world hell hole!
William, let’s agree to disagree. You obviously don’t understand the consequences of jailing people so easily. There are criminals all over the world but US has the largest prison population. Obviously current status is not working and needs a alteration of course to fix it.
Are they really that stupid ?
if thats what you want to tell yourself. Maybe i just believe in holding people accountable for their actions. I understand we have the largest prison population. I also understand that alot of countries are below us on that list because they just kill prisoners, while even the ones here in the states who receive the death penalty dont get it for another 15-20 years after judgement. But w/e, i dont understand the way the world works right??? Maybe our country’s problem is that we’ve decided that in order to make things easier and to keep from hurting people’s feelings, we’ll just wont punish them as much for stuff
William, let me ask you a question. Since you are so high on holding criminals accountable for their actions, how many of the Wall Street executives did you fight to hold them accountable for their actions for causing the loss of not millions, not billions, but trillions of dollars?