In fairness to the people of California, they got hosed by a lot of "tough on crime" laws in the past. When they made these 3 strikes laws and then you had murd

In fairness to the people of California, they got hosed by a lot of "tough on crime" laws in the past. When they made these 3 strikes laws and then you had murderers and rapists being released to make room for non violent felony offenders convicted after 3 strikes. So I imagine people in California are a whole lot more careful with rhetoric like that these days. No, they probably aren't gonna let you make what are obviously less serious crimes into crimes that have equivalent terms to inmates convicted of, say, 2nd degree murder or manslaughter. (The way these tough on crime laws tend to work, sometimes the nonviolent criminals get longer terms than the violent criminals.) If you want support in getting tough on crime, than get tough on the high end, life ending type crimes. Don't try to convince people to fill their prisons with bicycle and muffler thieves. Prisons are expensive, there should be a good cost benefit ratio for every inmate you incarcerate. If you absolutely believe you have to do something tough to muffler thieves, then hey, they seem extremely good candidates for ankle bracelets. (Which you can do right now charging them with misdemeanors. No need to change any laws.) But years in prison at 30 Grand a pop, (probably more in some states), should be completely out of the question. It's not worth that much.