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WHAT I’M WATCHING: On Monday, the California Assembly is expected to vote on #SB136, a bill to repeal an odd one-year sentencing enhancement that is clearly not linked to any evidence-based policy. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavC… 
#SB136 would eliminate a rigid sentencing enhancement that sits atop many others in CA & can add years to a person’s sentence based on prior sentences served, regardless of what the sentence was or whether the new charges are at all similar. From @vgullap: theappeal.org/california-has…
We've talked a lot about family separation over the past two years, but so much family separation happening in this country is the result of mass incarceration — and we need to have that discussion, too.
The California Dep’t of Corrections and Rehabilitation estimates that 10,000 people currently incarcerated are serving a one-year prison enhancement.
leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnal…
leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnal…
Mass incarceration is not a single structure that we can simply take down. It was built up over decades in this country, bill by bill at the federal level and in state after state. So, to end it, we need to take it apart law by law and state by state.
Experts and a growing number of elected officials see the evidence: Mass incarceration doesn’t work. Policies based on fear and vengeance don’t make communities safer; they harm those incarcerated — disproportionately Black and Latinx people — and they tear families apart.
All the while, these policies rarely address the actual needs of the crime survivors who the system claims to be helping. ... In short, we need to rebuild the criminal justice system.
We need a system that actually focuses on solving the most serious crimes, protecting the safety of our communities, and addressing crime survivors’ needs. That’s a big change, but it has to start by tearing down mass incarceration, sometimes the way it happened: one by one.
Getting rid of this California sentencing enhancement by passing #SB136 is a necessary step toward doing so and getting on the path toward ending mass incarceration.
What’s more, this policy, not based on any evidence, is costing taxpayers a ton of money. Lawmakers’ own estimate is that passage could save the state “tens of millions of dollars annually.” leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnal…
As the @latimes editorial board put it, “#SB136 is good lawmaking in that it would roll back foolish lawmaking.” latimes.com/opinion/editor…
Here's the @ladailynews editorial also supporting #SB136: "[T]here is little evidence that this particular enhancement benefits public safety. ... [W]e support SB136." dailynews.com/2019/08/27/pas…
TL;DR: CA #SB136 is expected to be voted on in the Assembly on Monday and you should support ending the affected one-year penalty enhancement if you want to see our criminal legal system be more organized around evidence-based policies and the safety of our communities.
