California Veers Right on Criminal Justice at the Ballot Box

California voters this month overwhelmingly approved a statewide ballot measure, known as Proposition 36, which will now allow prosecutors to bring felony charges for possessing certain drugs and for thefts if the defendant has two prior drug or theft convictions. They also rejected Proposition 6, which would have amended California's constitution to bar involuntary servitude, including slavery, as a punishment for crime.