2020 California Proposition 20

California Proposition 20 was a proposed initiated state statute on the ballot in the 2020 California elections. This initiative would have added more crimes to the list of non-violent felonies for which early parole is restricted, and would have required DNA collection for certain misdemeanors.

According to its ballot summary, Proposition 20 would have

• limited access to parole programs established for non-violent offenders who have completed the full term of their primary offense by eliminating eligibility for certain offenses;
• changed the standards and requirements related to Parole in California;
• authorized felony charges in cases of retail theft where the value of stolen goods is between $250 and $950; and
• would have required individuals convicted of certain misdemeanors to submit DNA to a state database.

Proposition 20 was decisively rejected by 62% of Californians, a margin of 24 percentage points. Observers partly attributed its failure to the George Floyd protests bringing negative attention to punitive criminal justice policies.