By Josh Meny, Channel 2 News (KTVN), January 11, 2024
Crime, unfortunately, affects our community every day. Whether theft, drugs or a hit-and-run, we must be vigilant to keep our community safe.
On Thursday night, Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp and Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks delivered remarks for a criminal justice reform town hall at the Elks Lodge #597 in Reno.
The town hall was hosted by Keystone Corporation, a statewide political action committee that recruits and supports pro-business candidates.
Smittcamp and Hicks are warning that Nevada is becoming more like California when it comes to criminal justice reform.
Watch the video recap here.
“It’s not just affecting public safety, but it’s affecting our economy, it’s affecting tourism, it’s affecting education, and it’s just causing a failure in the quality of life we have,” said Smittcamp.
Keystone is pro-business, and the rampant retail crime in California negatively impacts businesses.
“These people just keep doing it, and what happens eventually is the businesses shut down, or they have to charge a lot more to the customers,” said Keynote Corporation Director Bett Sutton.
In 2015, California passed Proposition 47, which reduced drug possession crimes and theft crimes to misdemeanors. Smittcamp says it provides for a culture of non-accountability, particularly for habitual offenders.
“You’ve seen that California has become famous for these mob-type robberies and theft crimes,” said Smittcamp. “We have people in California that have been arrested 95 times for misdemeanor crimes because they keep it under the 950 dollar threshold, and we as prosecutors can’t do anything to keep them in.”
In 2020, the Nevada Legislature enacted landmark criminal justice reform legislation, increasing the theft threshold from $650 for stolen goods to $1,200.
“We have actually overshot some of the errors California has made, and again I think it’s important to know about it so that people can make informed decisions,” said Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks.
Some of the other topics that were discussed during the town hall meeting were the reduction of drug laws and bail laws.
We contacted progressive Democrats in Nevada regarding the state’s criminal justice reform, and we will share their perspective in a follow up story as we continue covering this issue.