Two years ago California voters passed
Prop 36, which did away with 3 strikes laws for non-violent criminals. This means that if someone is convicted a third time, of a non-violent crime, they cannot be subject to the draconian mandatory life sentences that handed out with the "3 Strike Laws." Now, it's still very early on in the process
but so far, so good:
More than 1,900 prisoners have been released under Prop. 36, with the average person out for a little over a year, according to Stanford Law School’s Three Strikes Project. Just 3.5 percent have returned to prison for committing a new crime, state data reviewed by the group shows.
That’s roughly 10 times lower than the rate for all California prisoners released for a similar amount of time, according to Stanford’s analysis.
As I said, it's only been two years and the low recidivism rates are, statistically-speaking, premature; but this is a good sign for an important step in unshackling a growing prison system.