Election 2024: Voters must decide abortion, marijuana, slavery, sheriffs and more

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Election Day is Tuesday, and criminal justice is on the agenda in places and states across the country. This week we bring you an overview of some of the ballot measures and local races that will shape the system.

Reproductive rights

Voters in 10 states will have the opportunity to do so approve measures to protect or expand legal access to abortion care. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, similar efforts have taken place in other states generally achieved electoral success.

In Nebraska, voters face dueling amendments. One would enshrine the current 12-week abortion ban in the state constitution, and the other would protect access up to the point of fetal viability, which is generally considered to be about 24 weeks. If both amendments are adopted, the amendment with the most votes becomes law.

Florida’s measure, which would guarantee legal abortion until fetal viability, did just that drew the ire of Governor Ron DeSantis. His government has spent state funding on advertising against the amendment sent threatening letters to local television stations that aired advertisements in support of the proposal.

Legalization of marijuana

DeSantis has done that too directed state funding into his fight against Florida’s proposed Amendment 3, which would legalize recreational marijuana. So is the state’s largest medical marijuana company throw money at itand change it to the most expensive ballot initiative anywhere in the country. Legalization is also on the table in South Dakota, where voters approved it earlier in 2020, but Governor Kristi Noem successfully challenged the language of that initiative. A subsequent legalization attempt in 2022 was unsuccessful.

Voters in North Dakota also have a chance to legalize marijuana after a failed attempt in 2022 voters in Nebraska will decide whether the state becomes the 39th to make marijuana available for medical use.

Exceptions to slavery

Voters in California and Nevada will consider removing language from their state constitutions which allow slavery or involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime. If successful, the pair will join states such as Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee And Vermontall of which adopted similar measures in 2022.

Most state constitutions contain a clause similar to the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows forced labor as punishment for a crime. This has long served as the legal basis for forcing incarcerated people to work for very low or no wages.

Previous efforts were not always successful in changing the nature of prison labor. Earlier this year one A group of people detained in Alabama filed a lawsuit against the state, arguing that people who refuse work, or who are fired from jobs that release work, are routinely punished or threatened, despite changes to the state constitution. A judge dismissed the case in August, and it is currently under appeal. In this case, and others like it, much hinges on whether prison administrators removing certain privileges amounts to coercion in a manner comparable to slavery.

In California, proponents of the constitutional amendment hope that will be the case give prisoners the right to pursue rehabilitation programs rather than being forced into prison labor, and argue that this could lead to a decline in the rate at which people who are released commit new crimes.

Border enforcement

Arizona voters will weigh the fate of Proposition 314which would make it a state crime for foreigners to cross the border anywhere other than through an official port of entry. Similar to the legislative effort in Texas known as SB4the proposal would allow Arizona agencies to enforce immigration laws that have traditionally been the sole responsibility of the federal government. Arizona’s Republican-led Legislature passed a similar bill earlier this year, but that was the case vetoed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

Even if Proposition 314 passes, the border enforcement provisions cannot take effect until legal disputes over the Texas version are resolved. Most legal observers expect SB4 to ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Critics of Proposition 314 note that this is the case contains fewer guardrails than Texas law. Unlike SB4, Arizona’s measure does not ban arrests in places of religious worship, schools and health care facilities. Many are also afraid that this will lead widespread racial profiling of people who appear to be Latino. Supporters counter that under the measure, law enforcement would have to see a person crossing the border to have probable cause for a stop.

Conviction and pre-trial detention

California voters will decide whether to strengthen penalties for certain thefts and drug crimes. Currently, theft under $950 is a misdemeanor, but Proposition 36 would be make theft of any amount a crime if someone already has two convictions for theft. The initiative would also require people with multiple drug charges to complete treatment or serve time.

One criticism of this approach is that the proposal does not do that secure financing to expand access to mandatory drug treatment programs. The San Francisco Chronicle The editors noted this last week“You cannot put pressure on people for a treatment that does not exist. There are no residential treatment facilities in 22 California counties. And almost everywhere else the waiting times are long.”

The effort is largely focused on rolling back reforms that voters approved a decade ago was intended to reduce the state’s prison population. Viral images of shameless robberies and general feelings of disorder related to open-air drug use and homeless encampments caused a backlash to the reforms for many in the state.

Other sentencing initiatives include an effort in Arizona life without the possibility of parole from the mandatory sentence for people convicted of child sex trafficking. In Colorado, Amendment 1 would give state judges the possibility of refusing bail for people accused of first-degree murder.

District Attorney and Sheriff Races

Many of the same factors underlying California’s Proposition 36 have also left elected prosecutors in several of the state’s major cities fighting for their political lives. Take George Gascón, who stormed into the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office in 2020 with a wave of reforms aimed at making the justice system less punitive. usually ending the use of cash bail and enhancing the sentence. Opinion polls show him far behind challenger Nathan Hochman, who has branded himself a “hard middle” candidate who is rushing to reverse what he expected. describes as Gascón’s “pro-criminal” excesses. In Alameda County, home to Oakland, District Attorney Pamela Price is on hand facing a recall and similar characterizations of her prosecutorial approach.

In Florida, former circuit attorneys Monique Worrell and Andrew Warren are both running for the district attorney position they held before Gov. Ron DeSantis she started from the office. Legal fights about those steps are still underway, and DeSantis has left the possibility open that if they are re-elected, he will eject them again.

There are thorny and fascinating races for district attorneys and sheriffs across the country, and we recommend you check out this comprehensive guide from Bolts Magazine to explore them in depth.