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On July 21, 2021, comedian Adam Carolla shared a video on social media that supposedly showed two people stealing merchandise from a store. The video was accompanied by a message claiming that thefts under $950 will not be prosecuted thanks to California's Proposition 47 law. This is not true. For one, Prop 47 is not a new law. It was approved by a majority of California voters back in 2014. More importantly, Prop 47 does not legalize theft under $950. The judicial branch of California explains on its page about Prop 47 that the new law reclassifies certain theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. Thanks to Prop 47, shoplifting offenses involving property valued at less than $950 are prosecuted as misdemeanors, not felonies, but they are still prosecuted. Such offenses are punishable by up to six months in county jail. The above-displayed video, which reportedly shows two people shoplifting from a TJ Maxx in Granada Hills, is one of several videos that was circulated online in the summer of 2021 in support of the claim that crime was on the rise in California. However, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said that the statistics don't support that narrative, pointing to a mid-year report showing that burglaries were down 6 % in the first six months of 2021. It should also be noted that California is not the only state that has raised the bar for felony convictions. Since 2000, at least 37 states have enacted laws that raised the threshold for what constitutes felony theft. In 2017, Pew Charitable Trusts examined how these laws impacted the crime rate and found that raising the felony theft threshold has no impact on overall property crime or larceny rates. Pew Trusts wrote: We looked at a similar claim back in 2020. You can read more about what Prop 47 does (and what it doesn't do) here.
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