Philanthropy News Digest: The 2016 election campaign season has exposed the deep and bitter divides in our political system. Candidates have put forth vastly different views, and the list of what they agree on seems to be getting shorter by the day. Yet criminal justice reform has become that rare thing — an issue on which many Democrats and Republicans can agree.

Huffington Post: Change has come to the criminal justice system in America’s most populous state. California’s arrest rate last year dropped to its lowest level ever recorded, the result of a voter-approved initiative to reclassify several nonviolent felonies as misdemeanors.

Governing: As policymakers in state capitols and on Capitol Hill debate criminal justice reform, it’s worth considering who crime victims are and their views on laws meant to punish those who do them harm. A pair of national surveys sheds some light on the issue. The Justice GOVERNING: Department’s annual National Crime Victimization Survey reports detailed data on various types of crimes and their victims. Another recent survey, commissioned by the Alliance for Safety and Justice (ASJ), provides…