PROP. 5 WOULD FUND INNOVATIVE TREATMENT FOR DRUG OFFENDERS

California voters are rarely given the chance to vote for an
initiative that addresses a problem that many thought was unsolvable.
Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, provides
the opportunity for voters to bring change to the state's crumbling
and bankrupt criminal justice system in a manner that cannot be
achieved within the special-interest-dominated world of Sacramento.

Prop. 5 is the only initiative on the November ballot that is slated
to preserve state funds and save taxpayers' money - at least $2.5
billion, according to the state's Legislative Analyst.

A 2007 bipartisan report authored by the Little Hoover Commission,
entitled "Solving California's Corrections Crisis: Time is Running
Out," stated that "30 years of tough on crime politics has not made
the state safer" because of our failure to implement strategies that
reduce the offender's likelihood to re-offend. Prop. 5 is a
three-pronged effort to improve public safety by bringing balance to
California's criminal-justice system.

The first element of Prop. 5 is its mandate to create a system of
care for youth involved with substance abuse. Under this initiative,
counties will be provided financial resources to establish a modern
system of drug treatment.

The second area addressed by Prop. 5 is treating nonviolent adult
drug offenders after their arrest. Many county-run drug treatment
services are disjointed and poorly funded, which reduces their
potential effectiveness. Prop. 5 creates a coordinated and unified
continuum of services that gives judges greater flexibility and
broader controls.

If an offender commits a nonviolent drug offense, Prop. 5 states that
treatment intervention should be a priority. If the offense is a
nonviolent non-drug offense but the judge determines that substance
abuse was the root cause, Prop. 5 gives courts the flexibility to use
treatment as an alternative to, or in conjunction with,
incarceration. By offering more choices, the initiative eliminates
the situation where judges must rely on a single treatment option or
impose incarceration - an approach long deemed a failure by addiction experts.

Perhaps the most important element of Prop. 5 is the establishment of
rehabilitative services in the parole system. Today, inmates are
routinely returned to the community with limited resources and few
opportunities. Lacking both support and incentives, they soon fall
back on old patterns. When offenders violate their parole, they are
typically returned to prison, where they serve a mere five months
before they are again released. Under Prop. 5, this failed
one-dimensional system will be replaced by an array of sanctions and
treatment options primarily operated at the local level.
Interventions will range from incarceration to residential and
nonresidential drug treatment. The initiative also mandates that
higher levels of parole resources and supervision be devoted to
higher risk parolees.

Prop. 5 offers voters a rare opportunity to bring change that is long
overdue and that will advance the public safety interests of all Californians.