Law Enforcement

Police under fire in Sacramento, Los Angeles

Big cities throughout California continue to be roiled by police issues. Oakland and San Francisco have gotten the most attention because of high-profile police chiefs being forced out over a sex scandal involving an underage prostitute and because of unarmed

Measure curbing “policing for profit” signed by Gov. Brown

Matt Fleming September 29, 2016

A bill reining in abuse of civil asset forfeiture laws by law enforcement agencies was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday, marking a significant victory for advocates of civil liberties. The measure narrows a loophole allowing local law enforcement agencies to

Gov. Brown could sign vote-from-jail law

James Poulos September 21, 2016

Heightening the stakes in the criminal justice debate roiling the country at large, Gov. Jerry Brown could soon greenlight a law that would allow some state felons to vote from jail. California has wound up in the middle of the pack on state

Two bills targeting rape pass Legislature, head to Gov. Brown’s desk

James Poulos September 7, 2016

A series of high profile rape accusations led California lawmakers to pass new legislation designed to remove a judge’s discretion in certain cases and to lift the burden on victims to bring suit before the law allows the validity of their claims

AP story hammers home Brock Turner-Prop. 57 link

Chris Reed September 6, 2016

They’ve been two of California’s biggest stories for months: the simmering anger over the light sentence given in early June to Brock Turner, a former Stanford swimmer, for sexually assaulting an unconscious fellow student in early 2015, and Gov. Jerry

Who will Gov. Brown believe: MADD or DMV?

Chris Reed August 29, 2016

Who will Gov. Jerry Brown believe: the Mothers Against Drunk Driving or his own Department of Motor Vehicles? That’s what it boils down to when Brown decides whether to sign Senate Bill 1046, a bill by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San

Federal appeals court protects CA medical marijuana use

Chris Reed August 18, 2016

This November, California voters will vote on Proposition 64 and decide whether their state should become the third after Colorado and Washington to make it legal under state law for adults to smoke pot recreationally. But advocates of legal recreational

Recall campaign against CA judge mounts

James Poulos August 17, 2016

Facing a never-before-seen push to oust him because of a ruling, a California judge has become the focus of a political maelstrom centered around the politics of rape, gender and the rule of law. After giving a lenient sentence to

Civil libertarians and police embrace asset-forfeiture compromise

Steven Greenhut August 16, 2016

SACRAMENTO – The California Assembly on Monday approved one of the most significant civil-liberties reforms of the legislative session. Remarkably, the bill – to put limits on the controversial practice of civil asset forfeiture by police agencies – had no

Bill punishing Fentanyl kingpins dies in committee

Matt Fleming August 11, 2016

A bill that would have imposed mandatory sentences on large-scale dealers of a powerful opioid responsible for a rash of deaths and overdoses over the last few years died in committee Thursday. Fentanyl, an anesthetic said to cause a euphoric high