Democrats want to make it easier to prosecute repeat shoplifters

Responding to a dramatic increase in shoplifting in recent years, two prominent Democrats announced proposed initiatives Thursday that could make it easier to prosecute people repeatedly convicted of theft.

Assemblyman James Ramos, D-San Bernardino, announced AB 1772, which would allow courts to consider a criminal’s prior convictions when imposing sentence for theft. Under AB 1772, a thief convicted two times could be prosecuted as a felon, even if the value of goods they stole would be deemed a misdemeanor under Proposition 47. Ramos said this would allow authorities to target repeat criminals, who could face additional penalties of six months to three years.

“Shoplifting, smash-and-grab thefts, and other acts of retail theft trends are causing retailers to close their businesses and endangering customers and employees,” Ramos said in a news release. “Since the pandemic, these crimes have increased.”

Because it would modify a previous initiative, AB 1772 would need to be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and be passed by a majority of voters. Proposition 47 passed with nearly 60% of the vote in 2014 amid concerns about California’s large and growing prison population.

Also, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, announced that he would introduce an initiative to modify Proposition 47. That bill was not in print as of Thursday. But in a news release, McCarty said AB 1794 would “hold repeat retail theft and substance abuse offenders accountable.” In November, Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, named McCarty chair of the powerful Assembly Public Safety Committee.

“Californians expect their leaders to address public substance abuse and the rise of retail crimes,” said McCarty. “We know voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 47 in 2014, but it is now our responsibility to look at and correct any unintended consequences. Additionally, we need to re-institute diversion and rehabilitation treatment programs as mandatory conditions during sentencing without reverting to the mass incarceration policies of the past.”

While Proposition 47 made several changes to the Penal Code, many critics have pointed to one in particular: raising the threshold for a theft to be considered a felony from $400 to $950. But several panelists speaking to the Legislature’s Select Committee on Retail Theft last month said the dollar limit wasn’t California’s main problem.

In fact, many red states have higher value limits for felonies than California. The comparable limit in Texas is $2,500. Instead, panelists from across the political spectrum told lawmakers that California does a poor job of prosecuting the repeat offenders who commit a disproportionate number of thefts.

“It is our belief that focusing on repeat offenders is by far the single most impactful change that could be made at this point,” California Police Chiefs Association Vice President Alexander Gammelgard told lawmakers, including McCarty, at the hearing.

A third Democrat also introduced a measure this week that could help prosecute repeat criminals, AB 1779 by Assemblywoman Jackie Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks. Currently, the attorney general can prosecute suspects for robberies, burglaries and thefts that occur across jurisdictions, giving his office a tool to increase sentences and target criminal networks. Her bill would remove the words “brought by the Attorney General” from the existing statute, allowing city and county prosecutors to bring these charges. Irwin’s bill would not need to go before voters.

While there’s little chance the current Democratic controlled Legislature will reinstate the kinds of tough on crime policies passed in the 1980s and 1990s, there does appear to be a growing appetite in Sacramento to go after at least certain types of criminals. Another issue that has come up, at the December hearing and elsewhere, is how little retailers and policymakers know about some aspects of the theft problem — a fact highlighted last when the National Retail Federation retracted a claim that “organized retail theft” had caused over $40 billion in annual losses for retailers.

Ramos is also attacking this knowledge gap. Last year, he led an effort to ask the California State Auditor to study the effect of Proposition 47 in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. These two counties, particularly San Bernardino, have rates of violence and property crime that are far above state and national averages. According to Ramos’ office, the report is due out later this year.

A September report from the Public Policy Institute of California found the rate of shoplifting in California jumped by almost 29% during 2022. However, this was compared to very low rates during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Even after this sizable increase, the shoplifting rate in California remains 8% below its pre-pandemic level,” wrote authors Magnus Lofstrom and Brandon Martin.

In fact, after a jump in 2015 following the passage of Proposition 47, shoplifting remains in a long-term decline in California despite the recent increase. Commercial burglaries and robberies have risen slightly over the same period. According to data they drew from the California Department of Justice, commercial burglaries were nearly 16% higher in 2022 than in 2019.

The changes have also been uneven across the state. The report showed reports of shoplifting fell between 2019 and 2022 in areas including Los Angeles, the Inland Empire and much of the Central Valley. But they jumped sharply in parts of the Bay Area, including San Francisco and San Mateo.