Criminal justice policy advocates caution against viewing the election results as a referendum against reform.

California has rejected a ballot measure that would have amended the state constitution to ban forced prison labor.

California voters have rejected a ballot measure that would have banned forced labor in jails and prisons, yet more evidence from the Nov. 5 election that voters have lost their appetite for criminal justice reforms amid growing frustrations over what many see as worsening crime in their communities.

The measure would have amended the state’s constitution to repeal language that allows involuntary servitude as a form of criminal punishment.