Criminal Justice

By Larry Smith Journalism Guild Writer A movement is under way to restore voting rights to more ex-felons, The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange reports. “The biggest obstacle in most states is that people just do not know that they ever could get their rights restored,” said Edward A. Hailes Jr., managing director and general counsel at the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization. An estimated 5.85 million U.S. citizens cannot vote because they have a felony conviction on their record; most of them are out of prison and … [Read more...] about A Movement to Restore Voting Rights to Ex-felons

By Marcus Henderson Staff Writer The “Ban the Box” movement is gaining support across the country, boosting the chance of people with criminal records to get jobs, a report says. Twenty-three states and more than 100 cities and counties nationwide have adopted some form of “Ban the Box,” which prohibits a question on whether the job applicant has a criminal record, according to the National Employment Law Project. . California adopted its initiative in 2013, when Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 218. It removes the … [Read more...] about Ban the Box Underway Across The Country

By Charles David Henry Journalism Guild Writer It has cost California taxpayers more than $220 million to overturn 600 wrongful convictions over two decades, a university study reports. Individuals who had their conviction overturned were paid $80 million, the study found. Settlements for wrongful conviction cases cost $68 million, “and an additional $68 million was spent on trials and appeals,” the Los Angeles Times reported March 10. “The effort to put a price on prosecutorial misconduct, errant judicial rulings and forensic lab … [Read more...] about Wrongful Convictions Cost Californians Millions of Dollars

By David B. Le Journalism Guild Writer America should take the millions of dollars that private jail and prison companies make and instead spend it to solve the country’s mass incarceration problems, a Huffington Post columnist reports. The country’s two largest private prison operators released their annual financial reports that showed hundreds of millions in profits last year, wrote Donald Cohen, executive director of In the Public Interest. “If our criminal justice system stopped sending people to private jails and prisons, … [Read more...] about Private Prisons Profits Compound Mass Incarceration Problems

By Chung Kao Staff Writer Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2016-17 budget proposes a total of $15.6 billion for judicial and criminal justice programs—an increase of $582 million, or 3.9 percent, over the estimated expenditures for year 2015-16. A report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) summarizes Brown’s proposed expenditures and makes recommendations to the Legislature about whether to approve, modify or reject them. According to the report, “The primary goal of California’s criminal justice system is to provide public safety by … [Read more...] about Calif. $15.6 Billion Budget for Criminal Justice Programs

By Wayne Boatwright Journalism Guild Writer Overcrowding in county jails has California reviewing its bail practices. California’s bail practices have clogged the jails and become a tool that preemptively punishes the poor. Many individuals who pose no threat to society are jailed while awaiting trial. Realignment shifted many state prisoners to county jails. Like a flood moving downstream, this prison to county jail overcrowding has become an urgent issue according to the editorial board of The Sacramento Bee. Does bail … [Read more...] about Overcrowding in County Jails Changes Bail Practices

By Forrest Lee Jones Journalism Guild Writer A U.S. district judge issued a “certificate of rehabilitation” to a woman he had sentenced over a decade ago, according to a report by the Collateral Consequences Resource Center. In his final tenure on the bench, U.S. District Judge John Gleeson offered a ruling that set a new precedent for federal courts in modifying consequential effects of a criminal record that doesn’t completely erase it, says the report. Gleeson’s opinion could inform how future sentencing courts can influence a … [Read more...] about Woman Receives Certificate Of Rehabilitation from Judge

A number of sources have responded to Proposition 47 critics’ claims that reducing certain non-violent, non-serious offenses from felonies to misdemeanors is to blame for California’s 2015 increase in urban crime, The Washington Post reported. Since it passed, critics of the initiative have abundantly tried to blame Proposition 47 for a rise in crime. However, former San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne told the Sacramento Bee, “There’s no data proving such a link.” Two professors of criminology, law and society in the School of … [Read more...] about Proposition 47 Being Blamed for Rise in Urban Crime

By Kevin D. Sawyer Associate Editor “Uncontrolled prejudice” may explain why White police officers shoot young Black men so often, according to an article published in Mother Jones magazine. The conclusion is based on the Implicit Association Test (IAT). It is designed to measure racial prejudice that people cannot consciously control, and 51 percent of those who have taken the test online demonstrate a “moderate to strong bias,” reported the Dec. 1, 2014, article by Chris Mooney, a book author and staff writer for The Washington … [Read more...] about Test May Explain Racially Biased Police Shootings