Public Safety

ACLU Poll Shows Public Attitudes Changing On Incarceration

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published October 3, 2012 at 2:20 PM PDT

This story was published more than 12 years ago.

A poll by the ACLU shows most California voters support investing in more alternatives to incarceration.

The poll results come one year after the beginning of realignment, the shift of thousands of nonviolent offenders from state to county jurisdiction. The policy stems from a federal court order to reduce the number of prisoners in California's overcrowded prisons.

Margaret Dooley Sammuli of the American Civil Liberties Union said 70 percent of those polled said they support policies such as supervising offenders in the community, rather than spending money to build more county jails.

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"It’s clear to us from this polling that California voters want smart, effective policies,” Dooley Sammuli said. “They believe we can have public safety and reduce the number of people behind bars. Maybe it’s going to take a little while for legislators in Sacramento to catch on.”

Dooley Sammuli said in 2012, California state legislators failed to pass even modest sentencing reform laws that have proven successful in other states like Michigan, South Carolina and Virginia.

She said some counties, like San Mateo, are investing realignment money from the state to expand their jails. Others, like San Diego, are focusing more on new approaches like split sentencing, where low-level offenders serve part of their sentence under community supervision.

According to the poll, 75 percent of Los Angeles and San Francisco residents were in favor of diverting funds to community solutions. Sixty-three percent of San Diegans support that approach over expanding jails.

Among Democrats, almost 80 percent favor changing policies, and even among Republicans - historically more tough on crime – 55 percent supported more community-based solutions.

Public Safety

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.

KPBS News: Public Safety Policy

KPBS has created a public safety coverage policy to guide decisions on what stories we prioritize, as well as whose narratives we need to include to tell complete stories that best serve our audiences. This policy was shaped through months of training with the Poynter Institute and feedback from the community. You can read the full policy here.

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