Prop. 36 one year later: Thousands more prosecuted, but is it working?

Prosecutors in three Southern California counties have charged more than 13,000 people under Proposition 36, the tougher-on-crime law passed overwhelmingly a year ago this week, according to data collected by the Southern California News Group.

The law placed stricter punishments on repeat drug and theft offenders, but also promised to provide those with addictions and mental illness an option to have cases dismissed by completing a court-approved treatment program instead.

While the bulk of the cases filed in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties — nearly 8,500 — fall under the “Treatment-Mandated Felony Act” created by Prop. 36, few lead to treatment and even fewer end in the dismissal of charges, according to figures provided by the counties and a recent report by the Judicial Council of California.

Under the law, defendants with two or more prior drug offense convictions must plead guilty, or no contest, to the charges to qualify for the treatment program. How exactly those programs would work was left to each county.

Critics have pointed to low treatment rates as evidence of Prop. 36’s failure and described it as a “repackaged war on drugs.” The new law contributes to overcrowding in jails and increased caseloads across the state without providing the alternatives to incarceration that California voters expected, opponents say.

“It came with no funding for treatment, it came with provisions that punish relapse,” said Kate Chatfield, executive director of the California Public Defenders Association. “This law is and has always been about increasing incarceration.”

Public defenders are facing “crushing workloads,” with at least one office in San Francisco declaring their attorneys unavailable to take certain cases, Chatfield said. The funds spent on the deluge of additional prosecutions have left even fewer resources for treatment and diversion programs that would make more of a difference, she said.

“Our opinion over the last year hasn’t changed, it has unfortunately just been confirmed,” she said.

Lack of funding

Southern California prosecutors and law enforcement are mixed on the effectiveness of Prop. 36, with some believing it is too early to judge and others saying it has been hamstrung by a lack of funding. They blame the state and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who publicly opposed Prop. 36 and initially didn’t fund it in his budget, for not providing the resources needed for the law to succeed.

The Legislature eventually allocated — and Newsom approved — about $100 million to Prop. 36 in one-time funds in this year’s budget and, subsequently, the Board of State and Community Corrections awarded another $60 million in grant funds, but the law’s supporters estimate it needs up to $400 million to scale up to full implementation.

Prop. 36’s authors did not include any guaranteed funding. The law, passed in November 2024, followed an uptick in retail theft during the pandemic and repealed much of Prop. 47, which dropped certain drug and theft charges to misdemeanors a decade earlier.

In a statement, L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who was elected amid that changing tide, reiterated calls for Newsom to “fully fund Proposition 36 as part of a comprehensive approach to improving public safety and reducing theft and drug crimes.”

OC Sheriff Don Barnes echoed Hochman in a separate statement.

“We specifically need state leaders to fund the Proposition 36’s treatment-mandated felony programs in order to help those struggling with addiction get the help they need,” he said.

So far, Prop. 36 has produced abysmal results on the treatment side.

A Judicial Council of California report released in October found that from Dec. 18, 2024 — when Prop. 36 went into effect — to June 30 there were 8,895 “treatment-mandated” felonies filed by prosecutors in 57 counties. About 15%, or 1,290 defendants, elected to participate in treatment, and of the 771 placed into treatment, only 25 successfully completed the program and had their cases dismissed, according to the report.

OC: More arrests ‘a badge of honor’

Nearly a third of all of the drug-related Prop. 36 cases filed in the state at the time came from Orange County. Since then, the number of cases filed by OC prosecutors has doubled to nearly 5,000. An additional 1,085 theft cases have been filed under the portion of Prop. 36 that targets serial shoplifters and thieves.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer views the stats as a “badge of honor.” Nearly 75% of Orange County’s voters supported Prop. 36.

“I’m giving the voters exactly what they want,” Spitzer said. “We are bringing to the table compassion in trying to help people addicted to drugs, but also holding people responsible. … If they’re not going to turn things around, they are going to go to prison.”

Because not enough treatment beds exist for the program as it stands and state funding is nonexistent, Orange County is picking up the tab, Spitzer said. The county has a three- to six-week waiting list for its treatment program and about 202 active participants as of Oct. 20, data provided by Spitzer’s office showed.

“Everyone is overwhelmed by the cases, but what’s the alternative if we didn’t have Prop. 36?” he said. “That was the only way to get people’s attention … is to hold and have jail time hanging over their heads to get treatment. If they are not self-motivated to fix their own problems, there’s going to be accountability.”

Sgt. Gerard McCann, a public information officer for Orange County Sheriff’s Department, said Prop. 36’s impact on the jails has been “limited.” The average daily population increased from 3,815 in December 2024 to about 4,229 today, but McCann wouldn’t attribute it to Prop. 36, saying that the upward trend began in 2023 and has followed an unchanged trajectory since then.

Some of those charged under Prop. 36 face other charges as well and may already have been represented in the population numbers, he said.

Drug cases high in Riverside County

Riverside County had the third most drug-related cases filed at the time of the Judicial Council survey.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that it is too early to “fully measure the impact,” but that “most defendants are choosing treatment programs instead of traditional sentencing.” The county now has filed 1,674 drug-related Prop. 36 cases and 1,296 theft cases as of Friday, Oct. 31. Courts adopted treatment plans in 176 of the cases, though county officials believe that was likely an underestimation, according to a statement.

“While we believe Prop. 36 is working effectively, and are encouraged by the demand for treatment, it’s still too soon to make a full assessment,” the statement reads. “However, we are closely monitoring the outcomes and collaborating with our partners in behavioral health and the courts to ensure accountability and rehabilitation.”

The DA’s Office has experienced an increased workload in reviewing, filing and tracking the cases, but remains committed to “implementing the law as intended,” officials said.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, known for his tough-on-crime posture, said Prop. 36 has not impacted the jails in his county. He described the law’s implementation as “nonexistent.”

“We are aware of judges refusing to follow the guidelines of Prop 36, and the governor has refused to properly fund treatment centers and courts, ensuring Prop 36 does not show successes,” Bianco said.

Bianco, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, called for full funding of Prop. 36 and for the repeal of many of the laws implemented by California over past 15 years that downgraded offenses and lessened sentences.

“This is only a start,” he said. “The progressive left’s dismantling of our public safety system over the past 20 years needs to be reversed.”

San Bernardino County was unable to provide updated figures. The Judicial Council’s report indicates the county had filed only 95 drug-related cases as of June 30 and no one had been approved for treatment yet.

Jails filling up in LA County

While both OC and Riverside have filed more drug-related charges, L.A. County has more aggressively pursued theft cases, filing more than both other counties combined. Prop. 36 has had a significant impact on the county’s jails and now threatens the county’s efforts to close one of its most notorious jails.

Los Angeles County prosecutors have filed 4,151 charges, including 2,489 theft charges, under Prop. 36 since Jan. 1, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Of those charges, 1,372 were treatment-mandated felonies. The DA’s Office and the L.A. County Superior Court could not provide recent figures for how many people entered and completed treatment, but the Judicial Council’s report indicates that only one person, out of the 40 who chose treatment during the first six months of the year, had their case dismissed as of June 30.

That figure is likely to have increased since then, as treatment programs can take up to a year to complete.

The county’s jail population has surged since December 2024, with county officials estimating about 930 more people are in custody as direct result of the new law. No juveniles have been charged under Prop. 36, according to the District Attorney’s Office, though the county’s juvenile hall has also experienced a spike in its population in recent months.

Many of those charged in Los Angeles County are “still waiting for the treatment they were promised,” said Ricardo Garcia, L.A. County’s public defender, in a statement.

“There are no guaranteed beds, no stable funding, no consistent coordination with providers,” Garcia said. “What people do find instead are new arrests, more jail time and punishment for relapse. That isn’t reform. It’s abandonment dressed up as progress.”

The jump in the population could slow L.A. County’s efforts to close the long-troubled Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. The county needs to cut the current population of roughly 13,500 by a third to close that facility without building a replacement; however, recent estimates suggest the number of people in jail will continue growing over the next six years if conditions remain the same.

After years of declines, L.A. County’s jails were within “spitting distance” of falling below the rated capacity of 12,400 just before Prop. 36 passed, said Melissa Camacho, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California.

“The population has been going up and up since December and I worry what is going to happen if the trend continues,” Camacho said. “As long as we keep relying on jails to fix what is fundamentally a housing and poverty problem in L.A. County, we’re going to see those problems get worse.”

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to a request to comment. Sheriff Robert Luna, during the Board of Supervisors’ Oct. 21 meeting, continued his call for the construction of a new “correctional care facility,” noting that about 50% of the inmates in his care suffer from mental illness.

“It is going to grow,” Luna said. “We need space for our mental health population, and right now, as I sit here in front of you, I can tell you, you don’t have it.”

The county Board of Supervisors, which opposed Prop. 36, have declined to entertain Luna’s proposal and have committed to closing Men’s Central without a replacement. A plan for accomplishing that task, approved in 2021, is still in the works.

‘Failure on all fronts’

Claire Simonich, associate director of Vera California, said the preliminary data shows that Prop. 36 has been a “failure on all fronts.” It promised mass treatment, but, instead, the increased incarceration rates are siphoning local funding from programs that reduce recidivism and keep people from ending up the jails in the first place, she said.

“Prop. 36 is straining the demand for drug treatment that is sorely needed across California and it is also tremendously increasing incarceration costs, which takes away from local governments’ ability to get the residents access to what they need,” Simonich said. “All Californians should be calling on their local government, their state government, to fully fund the programs that we know keep us safe, things like affordable housing, good jobs, access to mental health and drug treatment.”

Simonich hopes the results of Prop. 36’s first year will motivate L.A. County to double down on efforts to reduce the jail population through investments in the Office of Diversion and Reentry, broader access to drug treatment and systems of care that exist outside of the jails, she said. Getting help shouldn’t require a treatment-mandated felony, she said.

The Vera Institute of Justice estimates that, based on a per-inmate share of the jails’ funding, those serving time due to Prop. 36 will cost L.A. County almost $80 million this year.

That money could fund rent subsidies and housing for 2,500 people, the annual wages for 1,000 mental health and substance abuse treatment workers, or a year of methadone treatments for more than 9,000 people, she said.