Nearly a year after voters passed Proposition 36, a first-of-its-kind report reveals that few people are actually getting into the treatment promised by its proponents, writes CalMatters’ Cayla Mihalovich.
Released last week by the state’s Judicial Council, the report finds that about 9,000 people have been charged with a treatment-mandated felony within the first six months that the law took effect. Since then, 15%, or 1,290 people, elected treatment; 771 people were placed into treatment; and only 25 completed it.
The data also details how different counties are using the law: Orange County, for example, has the highest number of treatment-mandated felonies charged at 2,395, while Kings and Napa counties each had one.
Some supporters of the measure argue that district attorneys have difficulty implementing Prop. 36 because of a lack of state funding. Republican and Democratic state lawmakers requested as much as $600 million to implement Prop. 36, but Gov. Newsom and the Legislature ultimately approved a one-time allocation of $100 million in the state budget.