Guzman

The Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000 (Act), which the voters of California enacted through Proposition 36, requires courts to order probation and community-based drug treatment rather than incarceration for certain criminal offenders who commit “ ‘nonviolent drug possession offense[s]’ ” (NDPO’s). (Pen. Code, § 1210, subd. (a).) We granted review in this case to determine whether the Act violates the right of equal protection under the federal and state Constitutions by failing to make this probation requirement applicable to defendants who commit NDPO’s while on probation for offenses that are not NDPO’s (non-NDPO’s). After concluding that under the statutory language, this requirement does not apply to such defendants, the Court of Appeal found that this omission denies equal protection because the requirement does apply to parolees who commit NDPO’s while on parole after completing prison terms for non-NDPO’s. (See § 3063.1, subd. (a).) To remedy this perceived constitutional violation, the Court of Appeal construed the requirement also to apply to offenders who commit NDPO’s while on probation for non-NDPO’s.

We agree with the Court of Appeal that…