SACRAMENTO-
Assembly member Jim Cooper has introduced a bill that he says will fix an unintended consequence of Proposition 47, the measure passed by voters that reduces certain crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.
The reason is that convicted felons are required to give DNA samples for the state database. Proposition 47 reduces many drug crimes as well as fraud, forgery and other offenses to misdemeanors. That means as many as 250,000 criminals can avoid DNA testing.
Many district attorneys, including Sacramento County DA Anne Marie Schubert, say it would prevent thousands of major crimes from being solved.
Cooper, a Sheriff’s deputy for 30 years, said career criminals who are jailed for lesser crimes are also involved in murders and rapes. That has been proven by the numerous cases solved using the DNA data base for criminals who committed crimes that are now classified as non-violent crimes and considered misdemeanors by Proposition 47.
Cooper says a bi-partisan group of legislators are backing his bill, which he says doesn’t change the intent of Proposition 47 to reclassify crimes. He says that it would just allow DNA testing for crimes that were classified as felonies in the past.