[Baltimore Sun] Newsom signs bills cracking down on smash-and-grab thefts
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed a bill to strengthen penalties for smash-and-grab thefts, dubbed “sledgehammer crimes” by state leaders.
The measure, Assembly Bill 1960, creates felony penalties for those accused of thefts over $50,000. Courts are now required to impose the enhanced sentences on thieves and those who knowingly receive the stolen goods.
“California already has some of the strictest retail and property crime laws in the nation — and we have made them even stronger with our recent legislation,” Newsom wrote in a news release. “We can be tough on crime while also being smart on crime — we don’t need to go back to broken policies of the last century. Mass incarceration has been proven ineffective and is not the answer — we need true accountability and strategies that enhance our nation-leading efforts to address crime.”
The move comes as Democrats across the country are making their case to voters as election season approaches. Newsom fought unsuccessfully to keep a tough-on-crime initiative from making it to the November ballot.
That measure, called Proposition 36, would add felony charges to repeat shoplifting and some drug offenses. The governor criticized the measure as taking the Golden State “back to the 1980s and the war on drugs.”
A study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found a steady increase in shoplifting between 2021 and 2022 in the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles areas. California Highway Patrol officials say they have recovered $45 million in stolen goods since 2019.
Content from The National Desk is provided by Sinclair, the parent company of FOX45 News.
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