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Democrats across the country have promoted the “Me Too” movement, but California Democrats refuse to make the rape of an unconscious person a violent felony.
Two bills in the California State Senate and State Assembly would add stricter classifications to certain types of sexual assault. Both bills would make the rape of an unconscious or disabled person a violent felony. The Assembly bill, which was defeated, would have made domestic violence and human trafficking violent felonies as well. The Senate Bill is still in committee, but appears unlikely to advance.
Both the California Assembly and Senate are controlled by Democrat supermajorities.
Carl DeMaio, chairman of Reform California, says the Left’s words don’t match their actions when it comes to protecting sexual assault victims.
“We hear a lot of talk from Democrats about protecting women, but it seems they want to protect criminals more than women in California,” said DeMaio.
“I guess we shouldn’t be surprised because in the past 10 years California Democrats have repeatedly voted to approve bills that favor criminals - from backing early release from prison (Prop 57) to eliminating prosecution of many serious crimes (Prop 47),” he continued.
Because existing California law does not classify rape and domestic violence as “violent felonies,” convicted criminals can be released early due to lighter sentencing requirements outlined in Prop 57.
Democrat politicians cite prison overcrowding and concern for harsher sentencing of criminals as their reasons for opposition to the bills, but DeMaio says that reasoning is ridiculous.
“If we have prison overcrowding, then maybe we have a problem of having too many criminals — not sentencing that is too harsh!” said DeMaio.
“The soft-on-crime policies of the California Democrats are letting criminals loose in our neighborhoods and endangering our families — and making all rapes a violent felony, of all things, should be common-sense,” he continued.
DeMaio says that he expects the Senate Bill to meet the same fate as the Assembly version, but that there is hope for restoring safety to California in other ways.
Besides working to elect new legislators in 2024 that will vote for common-sense bills like these, DeMaio and Reform California are leading the campaign to restore public safety through a variety of measures that include repealing Prop 47, securing more support for law enforcement, and more.
Reform California will release its March 2024 California Primary Election Voter Guide closer to the election.
