The November 2020 ballot in California will include an initiative that would significantly weaken three recent criminal justice reform measures — AB 109, Prop. 47 and Prop. 57. Included in the ballot initiative is a major change to the definition of the term “violent felony,” which is used for sentencing and other purposes.
Specifically, the California Criminal Sentencing, Parole and DNA Collection Initiative would expand the total number of violent felonies from 27 to 51. In addition, the ballot initiative would expand the definition of violent felony to include any felony that requires lifetime registration.
“If this ballot initiative is passed, all registrants assigned to Tier 3 of the new Tiered Registry Law could be considered violent felons,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “That would include individuals convicted of non-contact offenses such as possession of unlawful images.”
The author of the ballot initiative is Assemblyman Jim Cooper, who is a former member of the Sacramento County Sheriffs Department for 30 years. The ballot initiative is supported by several law enforcement organizations, including the California Correctional Peace Officers Association Truth in American Government Fund, the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs and the Los Angeles Police Protective League Issues PAC. Each of those organizations has contributed $200,000 to $2,000,000. The ballot initiative is also supported by the Orange County Board of Supervisors.
“We must oppose this ballot initiative because it could result in significant harm to current and future registrants,” stated Bellucci. “The best way to oppose this ballot initiative is to vote against it as well as to encourage members of our families and our friends to vote against it.”
According to government documents, the ACLU is formally opposed to this ballot initiative and has donated $200,000 to fight it. In addition, two individuals are formally opposed to the initiative and each of those individuals has donated $250,000.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown has publicly stated his opposition to the ballot initiative which he describes as the “latest scare tactic on criminal justice reform.” The Gov. Brown’s Ballot Measure Initiative group has donated $60,000 to oppose the ballot measure.
“If this ballot initiative is passed, all registrants assigned to Tier 3 of the new Tiered Registry Law could be considered violent felons,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “That would include individuals convicted of non-contact offenses such as possession of unlawful images.”
And so it begins….. So now we are all going to be labeled VIOLENT FELONS. Thanks you people…… Residency restrictions, more onerous and frequent registration requirements, FUKIN harassment with home invasion checks. What else, lets see, marked drivers licenses, signs in yards, everything that ACSOL has fought to get rid of will now be placed on all level 3s when if fought as a whole with competent attorneys we could have beat it just as they did in Michigan. Debbie Downer-that is me-reality man………………….
We know gov Brown is against it it states, what about the devil himself Newsom????
Thanks to everyone that supported the bill there will be someone somewhere that is not going take this lying down I can tell you that. Make someone’s life not worth living and bad shit happens. Especially someone already ready to take flight. Not mentioning names, but like Will is always stating, this is quickly becoming war and in war civilian casualties are inevitable………. Not encouraging anything or predicting who may break, just stating facts again…………..
You know when Jerry boy is against it, it’s a bad bill.
I love and hate the ballot system for this reason: legislation that wouldn’t have a chance in hell is being passed on to voters.
I am really really really sick and tired of these opportunistic profiteers using us Registrants as stepping stones for their personal and financial gain.
They have thrown down the gauntlet at us and we must respond in kind. We must spread awareness to everyone we know to oppose this ballot!
This MUST be defeated!
I am going to be a downer too, including to those who supported the tier bill. Hope those that get relief from the tier bill appreciate the suffering it is going to cause others.
You know you tell someone something like you are a pedophile and now a violent offender all a sudden when you know for a fact you are not, it can really Fu*&%^$^ with someone’s head.
More unintended consequences and blowback of having a tiered registry
Yeah sure get your families and “friends” to vote against it, and it’s great Jerry’s against it but can’t we get the thing challenged on constitutional grounds before hand? At least try to stop it from getting on the ballot at all.
So overnight thousands, or tens of thousands of people will be added to the violent felon list, since every registrant is currently registered for life. That is really stupid and will backlog the already bloated system preventing LE from monitoring truly dangerous people.
Section 3040.1 is added to the Penal Code to read:
(a) For purposes of early release or parole consideration
under the authority of Section 32 of Article I of the Constitution, Sections 12838.4 and 12838.5 of the Government
Code, Sections 3000.1, 3041.5, 3041.7, 3052, 5000, 5054,
5055, 5076.2 of this Code and the rulemaking authority
granted by Section 5058 of this Code, the following shall
be defned as “violent felony offenses”:
of Section 261 or paragraph (1) or (4) of subdivision (a)
of Section 262;
(4) Sodomy as defned in subdivision (c) or (d) of Section
286;
(5) Oral copulation as defned in subdivision (c) or (d) of
Section 288a;
(6) Lewd or lascivious act as defned in subdivision (a) or
(b) of Section 288;
(50) Any offense resulting in lifetime sex offender
registration pursuant to Sections 290 through 290.009
Yeah…. We definitely need to do something. And more
This just keeps getting better and better. I went from low risk, to tier 3 soon and now going to be a violent predator. My attorney told me no big deal, no one would see me on the list unless they went down to the police station to look at the binder with registrants. I so wish I had insisted on a jury trial like I wanted.
So, it would appear that the newly-minted tiered registry is a hook upon which this ballot measure will hang. Without that third-tier to assure the ignorant masses that dangerousness has been appropriately evaluated and affixed, there would not be a reasonable-sounding proposal to further limit our freedom and our lives. I have to say, this is just the sort of unintended consequence that many of us worried about before tiers became reality. Let me put a fine point on this: this is a very bad development. Do any of you imagine that this ballot measure, dangling in front of the typically uninformed, impulsive voter in the voting booth with promises of crushing “molesters,” will not pass? I would love to be wrong but my immediate impression is not one of hope. Our hope then becomes with the courts to find it unconstitutional. And I am more hopeful in that prospect.
@ Bay Area Resident: As if the legislature is any better when we have ignorant, malicious scum like Lorena Gonzalez in it?? So what will follow as, overnight, we all become “violent sexual offenders”….. will we each be pseudo-science “evaluated” and carted off to Coalinga.
Double the number of what’s considered “violent”?? Does ex post facto apply to that? At what point do adjectives constitute punitive?
Eh……this doesn’t seem constitutional at all.
Truly Amazing! These scum succeed in using fear to turn us against our neighbors.
And the sheep murmur amongst themselves “Oh yes, so true, very dangerous. We must be fearful. Who will protect us? Wolves are everywhere.” Meanwhile, the 1% get richer and richer and the little sheep grow increasingly fearful and cling for dear life to their pittance and bread crumbs.
Terribly sad. Not my America.
That’s right everybody…read it…soak it in…vent a little…
Then by November go straight to the ballot box along with family and friends you have persuaded to VOTE AGAINST this measure!
We’re over 100,000 in numbers! We can swing a vote if we ALL come together and fight! No amount of hoping and standing in the background watching passively will change anything…only by willful action can we make a difference!
I feel sad.
Yeah, hate to say I told any so. Quicker than I was thinking. Someone once asked me if I was prescient??? Not really just dumb enough to be caught up in this but just smart enough to see what is coming soon as this tier was even a thought. FUC&P(UIY&UUIU:P(Io
Like your optimism Bill, but 33 million or more people in CA.
This is really bad Janice and team, you all helped get us here. What is the plan now?????????? I believe the legislature gets to define crimes, going to be a pretty big battle convincing the courts any different now that they have differentiated the offenders in tiers. BIG ass battle for sure. At least I heard a peep out of ACLU on this one.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!! I am still just dumbfounded by this one, I didn’t even see this extreme action coming right off the bat. Residency and presence restrictions are for sure coming…………. >[
Really starting to sink in now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, Jim Cooper. Yeah I remember him from this article… https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Open-Forum-Exaggerating-California-crime-to-13990531.php
Janice,
This is a major problem, a big huge ugly problem and your tiered registry is a f’ing disaster!!! People like myself, who possessed a few dozen photos, will now be considered a violent felon AND a sex offender. You put that together and the media and soccer moms everywhere will just have a field day with recrimination and further false narratives.
I am moving to New York state where people with simple CP convictions are considered Low Risk and therefore NOT on the public registry. I will visit California often and not register because I will be a resident of another state. Goodbye Golden State.
I see others are finally starting to see the point………. Little to late, but whatever…. Man have no choice but to move to Oregon I guess. My family is here and shit though…. Damn it to hell people!!!!!!!!!!!
Dave hit it right on the money, and it is from experience as well
“You guys in California will be complaining about tiers and be fighting in court for decades to get rid of tiers you are trying to get. Legislators have fun with tiers by adding things to each one to ultimately trap you on the registry forever with legal justifications you agreed to.”
“
The powers of bad intention have triggered everyone on this board and have you all lashing out and accusing one another and blaming. Think of the civil rights movement how ugly it got the closer they got towards equal rights. They faced dogs, fire hoses, jail, and assault. Look at our current presidential race how ugly people are getting, the lies and false accusations from both sides. Anytime an agenda driven force begins to lose some control or wants to gain control they get very nasty and stoop to ever lower tactics. This attempt at punitive, overreaching legislation is an attempt to keep all of you quiet and in your place.
The tiered registry is a major victory, the residency victories have been major wins for ACSOL, the recent case in MI is a major victory. We are winning, and therefore those opposed to us having civil rights are going to get ugly. This bogus law is an attempt to shut down the three victories we have had: AB 109, prop 47 and 57. This is to be expected. You better get a hold of yourselves, the closer we get the more these evil people will try to put you back in your place. Don’t get quiet! Speak louder! Write more! Be heard! Be seen! We have come too far and will not be silenced and sent back to our cages!
Ex-post facto with no due process. No individualized assessment. THIS IS EXACTLY what Michigan fought. Talk about a stigma. For many people they have spent decades on the list and have gone on with their lives the best they could. NOW old crimes become violent felonies, and all the BS that will come with that including many more homeless and many more unemployed. Guess there’s no criminal reform in California.
Bravo Eric! Great comment. It’s nice to see people point out all of the positive things that have transpired! We could still have expunged misdemeanor or any related offender banned from parks and beaches! Complaining, being negative and creating havoc on this site will get you no where. People need to be positive and I concur with your comment regarding the tier registry. There are thousands of law abiding citizens who can and will finally get the opportunity to better their lives. Let me also remind everyone that we have the most Liberal and open minded Governor who might have ever existed! Lastly, the old D.A. of OC is gone and things are changing! Stay vigilante, positive and it’s not always the swiftest or fastest who wins, but it’s those who keep running! Cheers
In favor of…
California Correctional Peace Officers Association Truth in American
Government Fund – $2,000,000
Job security for DOC workers.