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California’s crime spree and Gov. Gavin Newsom

August 14, 2025

Andy Caldwell

OPINION by ANDY CALDWELL

While Gov. Gavin Newsom is closing one prison after another in California, criminal activity has not abated in our state for a myriad of reasons. In the City of Santa Barbara, at their recent annual Old Spanish Days Fiesta celebration, one person was murdered while two others were wounded.

Sergio Rivas has been charged for murder at the fiesta with gang enhancements. In addition to a couple of previous drunk driving-related offenses, he was arrested by the Sheriff’s department in 2016 for “street terrorism.” That is, he previously stabbed three people on the very same street as the current charges!

Luis Gerardo Terrazas was also charged with attempted murder at the fiesta with gang enhancements- he attempted to kill Rivas.

A man named Juan Fernando Rios was also charged with murder at the fiesta with gang enhancements. His is the most interesting of the three people arrested in that he was just arrested on July 26, just a week or so before the fiesta, on charges of DUI alcohol/drugs, addict in possession of firearm, possession of ammunition, carrying a loaded firearm with a previous felony conviction, and carrying a firearm when not the registered owner.

He also has been suspected in the past of other serious felonies. All that begs the question, how was Rios back on the street a week after having been arrested to allegedly commit murder during the fiesta?

Well, in addition to offering extremely cheap bail, Santa Barbara County Supervisors have also pushed for a policy that allows people who are accused of serious crimes to walk freely after having been arraigned as it is their policy to not detain people in custody while awaiting trial.

In other words, they would rather give people with long records a break rather than err on the side of public safety. They have foisted this policy on their fellow electeds, that is, our district attorney and the sheriff, by way of controlling their budgets. Foisted? Read that coercion, as in making them an offer they can’t refuse.

Did somebody just lose their life because of these policies?

Another telltale sign this policy is not working has to do with the fact that local courts have had to issue some 10,000 warrants for failure to appear in court in Santa Barbara County.

What does that mean? All those people who were suspected and arrested for criminal activities and allowed to walk before their trial never bothered to show up for their trial.

Regardless, these same county supervisors are in the process of seriously reducing the carrying capacity of our jail because they are sticking to their story that low bail amounts and pre-trial diversion are a success.

Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom has just announced the closure of yet another prison in our state. He is aiming to close five total.

The reduction in prison population has been made possible by gutting California’s Three Strikes Law that sent people to prison for decades, if not a lifetime, for committing three felonies.

California’s naive and gullible voters gutted this law by a variety of means including changing the definition of what constitutes a felony, violent or otherwise. For example, as Katy Grimes of The California Globe reported, Proposition 57 rendered the following crimes in California “non-violent” felonies: human trafficking, raping an unconscious person, drive-by shooting, assault with a deadly weapon or firearm, serial arson, exploding a bomb to injure people, solicitation to commit murder, and domestic violence.”

Nonviolent? That is how Gavin Newsom and his friends in communities like Santa Barbara have justified keeping criminals out of our prisons and jails.

Other California soft-on-crime factors, besides low bail and pre-trial diversion, came in the form of other ballot propositions. Proposition 47 reduced serial retail theft and several drug offenses from felony to misdemeanor status.

The amount of retail theft in California resulting from the same was staggering, resulting in over $100 billion in losses in some years before voters repealed Prop. 47 by way of Proposition 36. However, Governor Newsom, who actively opposed Prop. 36, has refused to allocate any funds to enforce Proposition 36 at the local level in support of prosecutors!

California was once considered a paradise. It is now only a paradise for soft-on-crime democrat politicians and their number one fan base comprised of so-called non-violent felons.

It is an appalling thought that such a beautiful city as Santa Barbara would have their annual Old Spanish Day’s Fiesta celebration marred by a modern-day version of the bandoleros, but that is both the old and new California way.

Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB in Santa Barbara County and host of The Andy Caldwell Radio Show, weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on  FM 98.5, FM 99.5, AM 1240, AM 1290 and FM 96.9.

 


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Guardians Of Pedophiles! Senators, do your job and release the list! I doesn’t matter what side of the isle they sit on. Prosecute all involved fully and appropriately to the extent of the law!!


4

I couldn’t disagree more.


Private prisons. Look it up. THAT is a huge part of why “crime has persisted”.


I’m not even a big fan of him but Gavin is our last hope to avoid the festering fascism republicans are pushing for.


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Gavin Newsom is the George Costanza of politics. For success, he should DO the exact opposite of what his brain tells him to do.


29

Mr. Caldwell paints a vivid picture of crime in Santa Barbara and California, but his argument leans heavily on fear, cherry-picked anecdotes, and the assumption that mass incarceration is the only road to public safety. The truth is more complicated — and more hopeful — if we’re willing to look at the full picture instead of romanticizing the “lock them up and throw away the key” past.


First, yes, the Fiesta shooting is tragic. The victims and their families deserve justice. But when we talk about crime policy, we must resist using a single incident — no matter how awful — as the sole justification for dismantling decades of criminal justice reform. We cannot govern by exception, because exceptions don’t make good law.


Second, let’s remember why California began closing prisons and reforming sentencing laws in the first place. By 2011, our prison system was so overcrowded the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. People were literally dying from lack of medical care. Three Strikes and “tough on crime” sentencing created a system where thousands of non-violent offenders served decades in taxpayer-funded cages with no rehabilitation — only to be released eventually, often more broken and desperate than before. That didn’t make us safer. It just made us poorer.

Third, research is crystal clear: Long prison sentences are one of the least effective ways to reduce crime. States that have reduced incarceration rates — New Jersey, New York, even Texas — have seen violent crime drop. What actually works? Well-funded mental health services. Substance abuse treatment. Housing stability. Youth intervention programs. Job training.


Things that prevent crime before it happens, instead of just warehousing people after the fact.


Mr. Caldwell blames bail reform and pre-trial release for every failure-to-appear, ignoring the elephant in the room: Our court system moves at a snail’s pace, and people wait years for trial while losing jobs, homes, and stability. When people are given proper support — court date reminders, transportation assistance, pre-trial services — appearance rates improve dramatically without jailing people who haven’t been convicted of anything.


On Proposition 57 and the “non-violent felony” list: Words matter. “Non-violent” under the law is a classification for sentencing, not a moral judgment that these crimes are harmless. The reform’s intent was to focus prison resources on truly violent and high-risk offenders, while investing in rehabilitation for others. That investment hasn’t been fully realized — not because the idea failed, but because political leaders (including those Mr. Caldwell supports) refuse to adequately fund the alternatives.


Finally, the $100 billion retail theft claim is wildly inflated. California’s own Department of Justice reports that property crime rates remain far below 1990s levels.


Yes, organized retail theft is real, and yes, it needs a smart law enforcement response. But let’s stop pretending that voters were “naive” when they supported reform. They were tired of a failed system that cost billions and left communities no safer.


The truth is this: California doesn’t face a “soft-on-crime” crisis. We face a halfway reform crisis — leaders who pass progressive laws without fully funding the community programs, mental health services, and victim support that make them work. When we build those systems, crime goes down. We don’t need to go back to mass incarceration to get there.


If we’re serious about safety, let’s focus less on nostalgia for a “paradise” that never truly existed for everyone — and more on building a California where safety is measured not by the number of prisons we fill, but by the opportunities we create so fewer people commit crimes in the first place.


-33

Democrats stopped calling crime…a crime. When you do that, crime rates fall…because no crime occurred if it has been pre-determined not a crime.


Rob a store of $900 of shoes? Not a felony. Steal a gun? Not a felony. Violent offender? Not a felony.


See? No real crimes committed, when they are not called a crime! And magically, the crime rates dropped.


Give yourself a hand, democrats!


11

Andy, from what I can tell from a tad bit of research is that California is #28 on the list of per capital murder rate in the USA. My question to you is why isn’t the force of the Federal Government applied to Mississippi or Louisiana?


US homicide rates by state (descending order)

Here’s a descending list of US homicide rates by state, per 100,000 residents, based on recent data from the CDC and FBI. Please note that data can vary slightly depending on the source and timeframe:

Mississippi: 20.7

Louisiana: 19.8

Alabama: 14.9

New Mexico: 14.5

Missouri: 12.8

Arkansas: 11.8

South Carolina: 11.8

Maryland: 11.4

Georgia: 11.3

Tennessee: 11

Illinois: 10.9

Alaska: 10.2

Arizona: 9

Pennsylvania: 8.9

Michigan: 8.6

Ohio: 8.5

Indiana: 8.4

Kentucky: 8.3

Oklahoma: 8.3

Nevada: 7.8

Virginia: 7.8

Texas: 7.6

Colorado: 7.2

Florida: 7.2

Delaware: 7

South Dakota: 6.9

West Virginia: 6.2

Wisconsin: 6

California: 5.9

Kansas: 5.8

Montana: 5.4

Washington: 5.4

Oregon: 5.1

New York: 4.5

Connecticut: 4.3

Minnesota: 3.8

New Jersey: 3.8

Nebraska: 3.7

North Dakota: 3.5

Hawaii: 3

Iowa: 2.9

Idaho: 2.7

Maine: 2.6

Massachusetts: 2.5

Utah: 2.2

Rhode Island: 2

New Hampshire: 1.8

Note: Washington, D.C., though not a state, has the highest murder rate in the country at 23.7 per 100,000 individuals.


12

Not all homicide is murder. Homicide is the taking of a human life. Quite often, that is the result of self defense, accident, or police work.


The CDC and the FBI changed their template for qualifying a murder. Also, many states did not report all homicides.


When you use real numbers, you get this:


https://www.statista.com/statistics/195331/number-of-murders-in-the-us-by-state/


2

Looks like Texas is catching us. Only 84 fewer murders there in 2023 than California despite having more than 8 MILLION fewer residents. I don’t see the MAGA right claiming crime is out of hand in Texas. Wonder why?


-5

Homicides. Murder is a separate category.


Texas: law abiding citizens are allowed to shoot first.


7

Show us the list.


27

A study published in 2021 indicated that homicide rates in California are 28% higher in Republican voting counties than in Democratic voting counties. In fact, the highest crime rates in California history occurred in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s when California had a Republican governor and the nation had a Republican president.


But, of course, Andy hates Democrats (he’ll tell you that to your face as he did to me one day at the Santa Maria Post Office). I actually leaned Republican in those days but that never kept me from thinking that Andy was a blowhard who listened to too much Rush Limbaugh.


-16

Couldn’t agree more.


26

Mr. Caldwell should stop obsessing over anecdotes when trying to make system wide claims. Are there terrible crimes happening every day in California and America? Of course. Does the Democratic party have a monopoly over good ideas in law enforcement? Absolutely not.


But when you look at the actual numbers, the reality is that while recent trends are a mixed bag (2024 saw huge declines), we have significantly lower crime in this state than any imagined past golden era.


https://www.ppic.org/publication/crime-trends-in-california/


I think you also have to reckon with the fact that the most violent parts of the State are the reddest parts of California, and nationally the most dangerous states to live are dominated by Republicans which does undermine your spin that Democrats are entirely to blame for everything bad that happens.


https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/homicide_mortality/homicide.htm


-15

The logic of a simpleton.


There is more than one way to use stats.


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