The Sacramento County DA pushed back on the bill offering rehab over prison for felonies.
SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Healing instead of incarcerating: that’s the goal of a bill moving through the California Legislature.
Assembly Bill 1231, known as the Safer Communities Through Opportunities Act, would allow people convicted of nonviolent felonies to serve their sentences through rehabilitation programs instead of prison time.
“We really help them on their way, help them with addiction treatment, help them with opportunities and job workforce development,” said Assemblymember Sade Elhawary, a Democrat from South Los Angeles who authored the bill.
Elhawary said the proposal focuses on low-level, nonviolent and non-serious crimes, excluding offenses such as murder or attempted murder.
“If you commit a crime you do have to pay consequences,” Elhawary said. “But does it have to be going to prison, a place where once you come out you are probably not going to be able to find housing (or) job opportunities?”
Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho opposes the measure. He said judges could approve diversion requests without requiring a mental health diagnosis, creating what he called a free pass for offenders.
“You don’t even need to get a mental health diagnosis,” Ho said. “All you have to do is say, you know what? I want to get diversion. And over our objection, the judge can approve it.”
Ho pointed to a recent case involving Jason Hankins, who was charged with attempted murder in August. Despite two prior strikes, Hankins received mental health diversion over prosecutors’ objections.
“At that point in time, all he had to do was go for a couple of conversations at coffee,” Ho said. “He passed and succeeded mental health diversion … and then what happened was he turned around and he shot somebody 14 times and killed them.”
Ho also said the bill undermines Proposition 36, which voters approved in response to California’s ongoing crime problem.
Elhawary said it will ultimately be up to judges to decide case by case.
“Sometimes people just need that chance,” Elhawary said. “And what we often see is that people don’t get that chance and we just throw them away and then what happens? It makes it worse for our communities.”
The bill still needs to pass the state Senate and Assembly floors before heading to the governor’s desk.