FROM THE EDITOR’S DESKTOP

California has long been pressed to deal with immense problems. While prison reform began in the US not long after the nation's founding, in California, change--whether for good or ill--seemed easier. This is still true with today's movement to end mass incarceration, fueled by activists, academics, professionals, politicians, and practitioners. Hastened by the three-judge panel that found California's prisons to be unconstitutionally overcrowded, the massive expansion trend has finally started to reverse course. Much of this effort is overseen by Gov. Jerry Brown, who recently admitted that the mandatory sentencing policies he'd established in 1978 increased recidivism, with no incentive for prisoners who turn their lives around. This recent realization prompted his courageous call to relax mandatory sentencing with an initiative for the November ballot known as the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016 (Prop. 57), called "dangerous" by former Gov. Pete Wilson. California voters will once more get to decide if they want to continue the reforms now underway. Here, Sexton takes a good look into California's prison situation that tells a lot about what Californians believe about Californians.