NORA Overview
Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA), offers common-sense solutions to California’s prison overcrowding crisis. The measure will appear on the Nov. 4, 2008, statewide ballot. NORA’s major components are:
Facts / Fact Sheets
NORA and Youth
California currently offers virtually no publicly funded substance abuse treatment options for youth under the age of 18. This tragic and short-sighted failure abandons young people to their drug problems, putting their safety, their physical and mental health, and their futures at risk. Families, too often, have nowhere to turn for help.
NORA and Treatment
California’s prison overcrowding problem has reached crisis levels. Meanwhile, promising efforts to provide drug rehabilitation through the court system have been hampered by budget cuts and law enforcement opposition.
NORA and Drug Courts
California’s prison overcrowding problem has reached crisis levels. Meanwhile, some promising efforts to provide drug rehabilitation through the criminal justice system have been hampered by budget cuts and law enforcement opposition.
NORA and Health
California’s failure to develop a comprehensive public health approach to address drug abuse, addiction and mental illness threatens the health of millions of state residents. Tens of thousands of nonviolent offenders with addiction and mental health problems enter the criminal justice system each year, where care is typically inadequate. Young people have few options for community-based substance abuse treatment. Both problems endanger the well-being not only of people behind bars, but of the community at large.
NORA and Mental Health
California’s prison overcrowding problem has reached crisis levels, leading to court orders to improve mental health care for people in prison. Meanwhile, promising efforts to provide drug rehabilitation through the criminal justice system have been hampered by budget cuts, law enforcement opposition and incomplete links with mental health care for the many clients who are dually diagnosed with substance abuse problems and mental health issues.
Resumen General sobre el NORA
La Proposición 5, El Acto de Rehabilitación de Ofensores No Violentos del 2008 (NORA), ofrece soluciones lógicas a la crisis de sobrepoblación en las prisiones de California. Esta proposición aparecerá en la boleta de votación estatal el 4 de noviembre del 2008. Las partes principales del NORA son:
NORA and Parole
Experts Suggest Broad Parole Reforms
Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA), limits parole supervision to a maximum of 12 months for qualifying nonviolent offenders.
This reform is conservative when compared to reforms that numerous experts have recommended, and to proposals put forth recently by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, including:
Estimated Prop. 5 Treatment Allocations by County
The Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA) would substantially increase state spending on drug treatment, rehabilitation and a range of support programs. NORA sets a base funding level of $460 million per year in FY 2009-10, and adjusts that figure in future years for price inflation and state population. Counties would receive funds for treatment for at-risk youth under the age of 18 and for nonviolent drug offenders in the court system. Nonviolent offenders in the courts would receive treatment through one of three “tracks” depending on criminal history, with the highest level, Track III, most analogous to the current drug court system. Counties must separate their total allocations into three accounts to serve NORA’s different purposes – Youth, Tracks I & II (combined) and Track III. This spreadsheet assumes that the state would use $10 million per year for research and overhead, then estimates how much, from the remaining $450 million, each county might have available for each area in the first full year of the program (FY 2009-10).
Download Estimated Prop. 5 Treatment Allocations by County (PDF)
NORA and Communities of Color
California’s prison overcrowding has reached crisis levels. Over 170,000 people are crammed in facilities designed for 100,000 at a cost of $10 billion per year. The state’s recidivism rate is 70%, twice the national average. This broken system threatens the well-being of all Californians, and, inequitably, people and communities of color.
Prop. 5 will put the brakes on California’s out-of-control prison growth
Since 2000, prison costs have grown 50% to over $10 billion – about 10% of the
state budget. It now costs $46,000 to incarcerate one person for one year in CA.
California prison spending is projected to reach $15 billion by 2011.
The Legislative Analyst calculates that Prop. 5 would reduce prison spending by
$1 billion per year and cut prison construction costs by at least $2.5 billion.
Prop 5 Yes Brochure
To get some free brochures sent to you, please contact Gabrielle at (213) 382 6400 x4 or email prop5@drugpolicy.org
Judges Are the Gatekeepers Under Prop. 5
Proposition 5 provides for court-supervised treatment for nonviolent drug possession offenders.
On a case-by-case basis, it also allows judges to decide whether to place people in treatment for non-drug, nonviolent offenses, if the judge views that person’s substance abuse problem to be a contributing factor to the non-drug offense.
Opponents of Prop. 5 have sowed confusion over these provisions, suggesting that a wide range of offenders would automatically qualify for treatment instead of incarceration. They fail to take account of Prop. 5’s clear requirements – that any such offenses must be nonviolent, and that the judges have absolute discretion as to whether or not to permit treatment diversion.
Prop. 36 and NORA
Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA), builds on California’s successful landmark treatment-instead-of-incarceration program – Proposition 36. Prop. 36 was enacted by the voters in November 2000. Under this law, people convicted for the first or second time of a nonviolent, low-level drug possession offense receive community-based drug treatment instead of jail or prison. In its first seven years, Prop. 36 has delivered on its promises.