Rebuked Repeatedly by the Supreme Court, Brown Sues to Prevent Voters from Following Suit
Governor Brown, having been rebuked multiple times last month by the California Supreme Court for “abuse of power” in issuing pardons and commutations, has now resorted to a lawsuit aiming to prevent voters from enacting common sense fixes to his badly flawed Proposition 57.
Legislature and Governor to Crime Victims: Drop Dead
The utter disdain for crime victims by Governor Brown and the State Legislature has been apparent for some time now. Two bills signed into law this past week are punctuation points on that fact. SB 1391 will prohibit 14 and 15-year-old juveniles from being tried in adult court for a crime, even if it was […]
On Prop 57—Once Again, We Told You So
We told the truth about Prop 57 prior to the November 2016 election; that it would free violent felons years early. We said it would free sex offenders. We said it would free criminals whose sentences were enhanced due to prior violent strike offenses. Well, the sex offenders already sued and won their claim that they are entitled to be […]
State Legislature Proposes Additional Protections for Criminals at the Expense Of Victims
Proving once again that they care more about the welfare of criminals than victims and the public, the state Legislature continues to assail us with legislation to prevent criminals from being held fully accountable. Two cases in point: Senate Bill 1279 and Senate Bill 1437. SB 1279 would cap the maximum sentence for criminals who […]
Like Being Hit By Lightning
Prop 47 ushered in an increase in property crime statewide because many theft offenses were made inconsequential misdemeanors that carried little likelihood of incarceration. Last month the Public Policy Institute of California conceded that Prop 47 was responsible for an increase in larceny rates statewide. That increase, they reported, was 9% higher than that of similar states. In 2017 there […]
California Needs Criminal Justice Reforms to Fight Crime
The “Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018″ will appear on the 2020 ballot, as the failure of some Registrars to timely validate signatures prevented it from qualifying from the 2018 ballot. The initiative will make commonsense changes to fix problems caused by AB 109, Prop 47 and Prop 57. While some supporters […]
Crime Initiative Thwarted by Registrar’s Bureaucracy
It is rather disturbing that the statewide ballot initiative called the “Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018” will not appear on the November ballot, not because it lacked valid signatures, but because a number of County Registrar of Voters failed to validate signatures by the deadline. That failure has prevented this common […]
A Scandalous Abuse of the Legislative Process
In a startling abuse of the legislative process, a budget clean-up bill has just been used to sneak in radical and never-debated changes in the criminal justice system. It allows a defendant suffering from a mental disorder to be granted pre-trial diversion and the charges later dismissed for any crime if a judge finds the […]
Common Sense Crime Fix Killed by State Legislators
If you had any doubts that many elected state leadership in Sacramento could care less about victims and adamantly oppose even the most common sense solutions to crime, proof was again provided via SB 916 which died in the Senate Appropriations Committee. This bill was proposed by San Francisco area Senator Scott Weiner to help […]
Less than 50% of Victims Report Crime, Victimization Survey Says
A tremendous amount of coverage of the criminal justice system is focused on the perpetrators of crime and what should happen to them upon arrest and conviction. However, the unexplored and uncovered story is the number of violent and property crimes never reported to police, and the fact that few victims of violent crime receive […]