Shoplifting in California is getting out of control because of recent criminal justice reform laws, a district attorney told EpochTV’s “California Insider” program.
District Attorney of El Dorado County Vern Pierson said while property crimes, including shoplifting, are illegal, state laws such as Proposition 47 and 57 allow many criminal activities to go undeterred.
Passed by voters in 2014, Prop. 47 downgraded certain thefts and drug offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. Its most well-known statute raised the minimum amount of stolen goods from $400 to $950 for a theft case to be classified as a felony, which critics considered to be the main cause of a rise in petty theft across the state….