View article

Corrections policy in California is undergoing an historic shift in response to a variety of pressures--budgetary, operational and judicial. In April, 2011, the California legislature passed the Public Safety Realignment Act (Assembly Bill 109). This law shifted responsibility for specific categories of low-level convicted felons from the behemoth California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to the 58 individual counties. Under this legislation, low-level drug and property offenders committing their crimes after October 1, 2011 will be sentenced to county facilities and programs. State prisoners in these same categories will be released to their county of commitment under a version of county probation called post-release community supervision (not state parole). This commentary will briefly outline the background of this historic legislation and detail selected consequences of the Act. A discussion of …