A new bill in California, SB-82, has once again touched a nerve with the Chinese. Once passed, all future cases that do not involve robbery with a deadly weapon, such as a knife or gun, or that do not result in serious injury to the victim, will be reduced from felonies to misdemeanors.
Under Proposition 47, which passed the California referendum in 2014, as long as the theft does not involve more than $950, it will only be treated as a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail or a $1,000 fine. The bill, SB-82, introduced by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-California, could be considered an “upgrade” of Proposition 47, which proposes to make robbery, originally punishable by up to nine years in prison, a petty theft, a misdemeanor.
The motion refers to the robbery process, such as the culprit did not use weapons such as guns, and the victim is not seriously injured, it can be considered a misdemeanor; however, the legal definition of serious injury is very narrow, as long as the victim does not have life-threatening, it is not considered a serious injury.
Skinner said that the purpose of the bill is to clarify the law so that theft cases that do not involve violence are not treated as violent felonies.
In addition to the controversy over the bill, some local prosecutors and law enforcement agencies also opposed the bill. Ron Lawrence, chief of the Citrus Heights Police Department in California’s state capital, Sacramento County, said that even if there is no physical injury, victims of robbery still suffer emotionally and psychologically, and there is no justification for these violent crimes, which would only result in simple misdemeanors.
Los Angeles Arcadia City Councilman Paul Cheng, a former prosecutor, argued that there were more than 3,800 cases of hate violence against Asians and Pacific Islanders last year, and that if the bill is passed, many businesses and individuals may be more vulnerable to future theft and other criminal threats may worsen.
The California Senate Appropriations Committee considered the bill on Monday (April 5), and many Asians called the committee to express their opposition; currently, the bill has been referred to the Finance Committee for further consideration.
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