Posts Tagged: sentencing

Reduce violence through healing and compassion

Illustration of incarcerated men and women.(Image: Benjamin Haas, via Shutterstock)

by ADRIANNA GRIFFITH posted 07.06.2021

OPINION: I am one of many survivors profiled as an “offender” instead of a victim. My prison sentence was preceded by years of trauma and violence. Today, I am a member of the Justice for Survivor Act coalition, AB 124, which would allow courts to consider an individuals’ age, history of trauma, human trafficking history, intimate partner or sexual violence victimization, potentially reducing their criminal penalties.

Sentencing reform and redemption, California style

An early prison cell, an inmate's home for years. (Photo: Straight 8 Photography)

by JIM MAYER posted 01.29.2016

OPINION: Jerry Brown’s push for sentencing reform is the latest great example of Brown doing what most experts and practitioners know to be the right thing—and the willingness of an aging and experienced governor to learn from and correct his mistakes.

Brown seeks ballot initiative to overhaul paroles

An inmate gestures through the bars of his prison cell. (Photo: Sakhorn, Shutterstock)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 01.27.2016

Gov. Jerry Brown and a number of church and law enforcement leaders said Wednesday they are launching a November ballot initiative that would ease parole restrictions on nonviolent prison inmates and provide incentives for prisoners to work toward an earlier release.

Criminal justice, sentencing reforms gain traction

An inmate gestures through the bars of his prison cell. (Photo: Sakhorn, Shutterstock)

by SAMANTHA GALLEGOS posted 04.27.2015

For decades, Californians and their representatives in the state Capitol had a “lock-‘em-up-and-throw-away-the-key” approach to lawbreakers. But that view is changing. Following years of a steadily increasing prison population and some communities repeatedly being devastated by crime, public discussion has shifted in part toward reforming law enforcement’s approach to crime prevention.

Under the radar: Resentencing prison inmates

Inmates in a crowded area at the state prison in Lancaster, Los Angeles County. (Photo: Associated Press)

by DOROTHY MILLS-GREGG posted 11.03.2014

The statewide battle in the airwaves over Tuesday’s ballot propositions has been dominated by health insurance regulation, water works and drug testing doctors, but one measure that would have a far-reaching effect on judicial policy is flying under the radar. Proposition 47 would resentence thousands of California prison inmates imprisoned for nonserious or nonviolent crimes.

A drug- and alcohol-fueled gun battle that left one man dead at the suburban Sacramento residence of a legislative security officer has shed light on the unusual power of a longtime Senate employee and ended the career of the Senate’s chief sergeant at arms. Two suspects in the robbery, kidnapping and ensuing gun play during the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 2012, stand trial on Wednesday in Sacramento County Superior Court.