LOS ANGELES — California and Nevada voters are weighing whether to repeal legal loopholes in their state constitutions that allow slavery and involuntary servitude to be used as criminal punishment.
California and Nevada would join a growing national trend that started with voters in Colorado repealing involuntary servitude in 2018.
Slavery and involuntary servitude were banned nationally by the 13th Amendment with one exception — as punishment for a crime.
In 2016, Shawna Lynn Jones became the first incarcerated woman to die while fighting a fire in California, according to the state corrections department.
"If it means we have to come back to California voters in two years or four years, then that's what we'll do," Nuñez said.
Persons:
” Rep, Barbara Lee, Shawna Lynn Jones, ” Alyssa Mireles, “, Lawrence Cox, Cox, ”, “ It’s, Terri Hardy, ” Hardy, —, Greg Totten, we’ve, ” Esteban Nuñez, Nuñez
Organizations:
Democratic, ”, “, League of United Latin American Citizens, California Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, Firefighters, Institute of California, FBI, California —
Locations:
ANGELES, California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, Alabama , Tennessee, Oregon, decarceration, U.S