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Comment by synergy20 | Hacker News Reader

I heard it's Kamala(the VP) who started this 'stealing under $950 each time you got it for free' in CA, is it true?

Anyways I guess the voters got what they voted for, only them can change that by next vote. Nobody to blame really as those who made these rules are elected by CA voters.

Law and order are key to modern society, it's not perfect, the alternatives are just much worse.

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> Kamala Harris told voters in 2014 that Proposition 14(typo) was "The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act." Among other reductions in penalties, the law "requires misdemeanor sentence instead of felony for the following crimes when amount involved is $950 or less: petty theft, receiving stolen property, and forging/writing bad checks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_California_Proposition_47

I would say "stealing under $950 each time you got it for free" is inaccurate.

What about Texas or Wisconsin where theft up to $2500 is a misdemeanor?

Texas and Wisconsin are a little bit more willing to put people in jail for misdemeanors.

The numbers don't add up for this explanation either. The clearance rate is higher in the west

It's not just misdemeanor vs felony. If you report a robery to Texas police, they will investigate and prosecute the thief. LA police will tell you to screw off.

Political hysteria aside, CA property crime rates are at their lowest levels since 1960.

Recorded property crimes are at their lowest since 1960. In San Francisco shops have boarded up their windows to stop smash and grabs[1] and shoplifting has become blatant and all pervasive[2]. People don't report crime if they know it won't be prsosecuted

> Crime data is only as good as what gets reported A former property manager of a Walgreens store tweeted the Chronicle article didn’t take into account that police crime data is only as good as the crimes that get reported — and his Walgreens had “stopped reporting” retail theft “since there was no point” with “multiple shoplifting incidents every single day. See [2]

[1]https://www.newsweek.com/san-francisco-stores-board-amid-wav....

[2]https://engardio.com/blog/shoplifting-walgreens

maybe most people are at home these days? plus you can shoplift in public at daytime for $950, why bothering to break in anyone's property while adults are at home ready to shoot back?

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