More from The Appeal:
In an effort to end systemic racism, the California city will aim to reduce the number of police-involved traffic stops for expired registrations and other small violations.
Joshua Vaughn Feb 23, 2021
A coalition of environmental groups urges the legislature to force the repayment and dissociate from the CDAA.
The U.S. representative has been a chief architect of mass incarceration in the state and an instigator of racial injustice.
Jody David Armour Feb 11, 2021
Seattle suburb Renton is battling an emergency homeless shelter through its zoning code.
Rachel M. Cohen Feb 10, 2021
Right-wingers and ultranationalists convened in the city days after the Washington insurrection, but the police crackdown that day fell on counterprotesters.
James Stout Feb 03, 2021
After years of misappropriating millions of dollars, opposing criminal justice reform, and ignoring the will of voters, the CDAA must be held to account by the governor and the attorney general.
Sydney Kamlager Feb 01, 2021
The California city began distributing out up to $600 monthly to low-income residents.
Jerry Iannelli Jan 28, 2021
A look at the organization’s past actions suggests that this lawsuit is part of a longstanding pattern of ideologically motivated advocacy and commitment to tough-on-crime policies, rather than a show of blind allegiance to the law.
Piper French Jan 27, 2021
A Vallejo police lieutenant has a long history of excessive force allegations in a department that is under investigation by the California Department of Justice—and he continues to rise in the ranks.
Brian Krans Jan 21, 2021
The California Supreme Court Justice is motivated not by politics but by making equal justice under the law a reality for all Californians.
Earlonne Woods Jan 18, 2021
By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018.
Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021
In the new year, every prosecutor’s office should commit to protecting victims and workers, holding police accountable, and keeping families together.
Chesa Boudin Dec 17, 2020
California Assemblymember Jim Cooper may seek to be Sacramento sheriff once more—despite sexual harassment allegations and a long history of outlandish antics.
Jerry Iannelli Dec 16, 2020
A new study suggests that if counties—rather than states—bear the cost of incarceration, they may be less likely to incarcerate people.
Joshua Vaughn Dec 09, 2020
On his first day in office, George Gascón said prosecutors will not seek bail starting Jan. 1, a win for criminal justice reformers.
Eliyahu Kamisher Dec 07, 2020
Eric Garcetti, who may be considered for a position in the administration, is out of touch with the city’s working class and poor people, activists say. And they fear he’ll bring that sensibility to national politics.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 03, 2020
Fife has pledged to reinvest in the local community, aggressively combat the housing crisis, address income inequality, education, healthcare and more.
Eoin Higgins Nov 09, 2020
Candidates promising to remake Southern California’s legal system, won major races for DA, county supervisor, and City Council, among others while overcoming significant spending by pro-law enforcement groups.
Jerry Iannelli Nov 06, 2020
Los Angeles County, with the country’s largest jail system and largest local prosecutor office, is considered a crown jewel in a nationwide push for criminal justice reform.
The LA County supervisors are poised to tackle a wide range of criminal justice reforms, including moving children and people struggling with mental health issues out of the criminal legal system, and redirecting millions of dollars away from law enforcement and back into communities.
Piper French Nov 05, 2020
The ballot initiative would have bloated prisons and jails in the state and undone important criminal legal reforms, advocates say.
Ray Levy Uyeda Nov 04, 2020
First-time state Senate candidate Jackie Fielder’s housing plans are geared toward government investment, while incumbent Scott Wiener’s plans have relied on the construction of market rate housing with some affordable units.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 03, 2020
The DA’s office has been home to bribery, corruption, and more since it was formed 170 years ago. What could a progressive prosecutor do to change that?
Fatima Iqbal-Zubair, who seeks to represent South Central Los Angeles in the State Assembly, wants 'clean air, clean water, and clean food' for her constituents.
Jerry Iannelli Oct 29, 2020
Corporate backers of a group opposed to Proposition 21 don’t match the protective image it portrays. And a nonprofit that has contributed to supporters has been accused of financial improprieties.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 28, 2020
Graybill’s experience with suing the state’s current AG, Tim Fox, to protect a land easement program “really pushed me over the edge,” he told The Appeal.
Dawn R. Wolfe Oct 27, 2020
A measure on the ballot next month would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, a change that advocates say would crucially expand the voting pool.
Lauren Gill Oct 23, 2020
The Board of Supervisors wields enormous power over a county government apparatus that includes the DA’s office, probation department, and sheriffs.
Piper French Oct 21, 2020
DA Jackie Lacey and challenger George Gascón outlined diverging visions for the top prosecutor’s office in the nation’s most populous county.
Kira Lerner Oct 09, 2020
The ballot initiative, supported by police, corporations, and even big grocery chains, would use more taxpayer money to incarcerate people, rather than invest in other social services.
Ray Levy Uyeda Oct 08, 2020
Proposition 17 would allow people with felony convictions to cast ballots while they are on parole.
Kira Lerner Oct 06, 2020
In her run for City Council, Fife pushes back on the institutional barriers to Black people that come from a history of oppression.
Eoin Higgins Oct 01, 2020
Governor Newsom should sign the CRISES Act into law this week and invest in community partners who support people in crisis situations.
Asantewaa Boykin Sep 29, 2020
Late-stage donations to the Los Angeles DA race increase concerns about the influence of law enforcement money on politics.
Piper French Sep 24, 2020
As protests against racism and police violence were sweeping the country, a Vallejo, California detective shot and killed Sean Monterrosa. His death has galvanized a community.
John Glidden Sep 21, 2020
Several recent killings have put the spotlight on the largest sheriff’s department in the U.S., but many of the LASD’s abuses go unseen, advocates say.
Piper French Sep 15, 2020
Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century.
Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020
Taewon Wilson and Candace Chavez-Wilson are part of a growing movement to end life without possibility of parole and other harsh sentences.
Mara Kardas-Nelson Aug 24, 2020
A June report from the county’s independent judicial arm urges local government to reallocate law enforcement resources to social services.
Ella Fassler Jul 31, 2020
As U.S. attorney in Seattle, Durkan prosecuted a severely mentally ill man in a terrorism case using an informant convicted of child sex abuse—and claimed to have reformed the same Seattle Police Department that has tear-gassed peaceful protesters for weeks.
Jerry Iannelli Jul 29, 2020
Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen.
In late April, officer Toni McBride shot Daniel Hernandez to death after a suicide call. His attorney and grieving family say videos posted on social media of McBride gleefully firing high-powered weapons show that she’s a trigger-happy officer.
Jerry Iannelli Jul 02, 2020
About 20 people in the prison’s Badger section have been on hunger strike for the past few days, three people incarcerated there say.
Kira Lerner Jul 01, 2020
Prisoners are reluctant to report when they’re feeling sick, because they know they’ll be sent to solitary confinement.
Juan Moreno Haines Jun 23, 2020
In October 2018, Marshall Miles died at the Sacramento County jail after struggling with deputies. His lawyers say a deposition scheduled for next month will force the sheriff to answer for the in-custody death.
Jerry Iannelli Jun 18, 2020
The cuts will defund a controversial gang policing unit and end the city’s policing partnership with TriMet, the regional transit agency.
Jay Willis Jun 17, 2020
Public safety is not improved by stricter probation and parole rules, researchers have found.
Lauren Lee White Jun 08, 2020
This weekend’s string of errors is just the latest in his career of cruelty.
Jonny Coleman Jun 04, 2020
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and others say the money creates ethical conflicts when police are prosecuted for misconduct.
Eliyahu Kamisher Jun 03, 2020
Both incarcerated brothers are at an increased risk of complications from COVID-19—and one has tested positive.
Chris Gelardi May 27, 2020
Five years after statewide hunger strikes and a landmark settlement, men incarcerated in a California prison say they’re still isolated for up to 22 hours a day.
Joshua Manson May 21, 2020
The City Council must not let Mayor Eric Garcetti’s unconscionable priorities dictate how Los Angeles responds to the COVID-19 crisis.
John Wesley Parratt Jr. was scheduled to appear before the parole board in July. After the novel coronavirus arrived in San Quentin State Prison, he feared for his health.
Juan Moreno Haines May 14, 2020
California Governor Gavin Newsom said he’s releasing thousands of prisoners. But that doesn’t necessarily include some of the state’s sickest patients.
Mara Kardas-Nelson May 11, 2020
People incarcerated in the Otay Mesa Detention Center decry crowded units and substandard medical care as COVID-19 tears through the facility.
Chris Gelardi May 06, 2020
While adults in the county have been granted expedited release in groups, the juvenile court continues to review cases individually.
Laid-off workers say they face insurmountable debt and homelessness if they have to pay back months of rent after the pandemic.
Supriya Yelimeli Apr 30, 2020
Elected officials need to stop making excuses for not getting unhoused people into hotel rooms.
Jonny Coleman Apr 24, 2020
As millions file for unemployment, tenants are banding together to support their neighbors who can't pay the rent.
Zack Haber Apr 23, 2020
A man describes his ordeal in medical isolation while awaiting trial.
Eliyahu Kamisher Apr 16, 2020
With programming paused and prison jobs reduced, people inside will not be able to earn good-time credits and are cut off from a means of supporting themselves.
On the intersection of two public health crises: housing and COVID-19.
Jonny Coleman Apr 09, 2020
Bail will be set at $0 for most misdemeanors and low-level felony offenses.
Kira Lerner Apr 06, 2020
Los Angeles County judges must move quickly to release a broad group of people in custody.
Alicia Virani Apr 02, 2020
As the novel coronavirus spread in the state, a Solano County judge denied numerous motions to continue a troubled double kidnapping and rape case marred by allegations that a Vallejo police detective withheld exculpatory evidence.
Delaying trials will mean more people stay in jail while a life-threatening disease spreads throughout the state.
Kyle C. Barry Apr 01, 2020
Residents have been told to stay in their homes to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus—but little has been done to ensure they can afford to stay there, activists say.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Mar 31, 2020
We can’t allow “violent criminal” rhetoric to justify leaving some of the most vulnerable people in dangerous conditions.
James King Mar 30, 2020
“They are treating it like any epidemic in prison—that is to isolate, treat and then release back to the population.”
Juan Moreno Haines Mar 27, 2020
The state Department of Corrections confirmed two staff cases of COVID-19. No prisoners have been confirmed to have the virus, the department said.
Kira Lerner Mar 20, 2020
Cascading crises have significantly increased the stakes for the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Jonny Coleman Mar 19, 2020
It should not take a global pandemic for our elected officials to acknowledge that we are all safer if everyone can shower and wash their hands.
How California, which is home to more than half of the country’s unsheltered homeless population, is addressing the needs of the unhoused.
Kira Lerner Mar 18, 2020
Activists are calling on the governor, district attorneys, sheriffs, and judges to take action to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Mar 16, 2020
Experts say evictions cause a ‘downward spiral’ of health problems for renters, and that housing security is necessary to slow the spread of the pandemic.
Darwin BondGraham Mar 13, 2020
The public defender and district attorney both directed their staffs to keep individuals who are more vulnerable to the virus out of jail.
Darwin BondGraham Mar 11, 2020
In California, a Vallejo detective and a Solano County prosecutor concealed exculpatory evidence from a man facing murder charges. They went on to face accusations of misconduct in other high-profile cases.
The city is ramping up a cleanup program that activists fear will worsen the criminalization of homelessness.
Eliyahu Kamisher Mar 03, 2020
As a candidate, Chesa Boudin condemned gang enhancements as racist. Now as DA he plans to significantly limit, if not eliminate, their use.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Feb 28, 2020
Deputies in Orange County wrote false reports about their collection and booking of evidence, according to internal audits kept secret for months.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Feb 27, 2020
Critics say there may be systemic problems with how the unit is run within the Los Angeles County DA’s office.
As a Black child in San Francisco, I learned early that mine and others’ bodies meant nothing to those supposedly tasked with our protection.
Jamal Trulove Feb 19, 2020
Erick Wallace’s federal civil rights lawsuit joins a long line of litigation and misconduct allegations against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Jerry Iannelli Feb 11, 2020
As a society, we can’t continue to subject hundreds of thousands of people to the trauma of incarceration before they face a jury of their peers.
Andy Philipson Jan 29, 2020
Lack of evidence does not stop opponents of former San Francisco DA George Gascón from making the claim that the city’s criminal justice reforms unleashed a crime wave.
Alex Sherman Jan 27, 2020
Vaidya Gullapalli Jan 24, 2020
The influx of cash shows the police union’s determination to stop the reform-minded district attorney candidate.
Eliyahu Kamisher Jan 20, 2020
The former deputy public defender promised that his office would immediately end cash bail and stop seeking three-strikes sentencing enhancements.
Jay Willis Jan 08, 2020
Since 2010, no Vallejo officer has been disciplined for using deadly force, despite multiple shootings of unarmed people—including a man holding a can of beer. And active police union leaders have been involved in the shooting investigations.
Darwin BondGraham Dec 18, 2019
After two terms at the helm of the nation’s largest prosecutor office, Lacey has drawn pointed criticism from community advocates who say she is standing in the way of criminal justice reform.
Aaron Morrison Dec 12, 2019
The former San Francisco DA got the nod over incumbent Jackie Lacey, whose tenure advocates and activists have long criticized as lackluster.
Jessica Pishko Dec 10, 2019
In California, a prison program run by people once sentenced to life shows how even the most serious offenders are more than the worst things they’ve done.
Some officers have recently boasted about breaking state law and collaborating with ICE, according to messages posted in the group and obtained by The Appeal.
Darwin BondGraham Nov 22, 2019
Some pretrial prisoners and immigration detainees are forced to work without pay in violation of the 13th Amendment, according to attorneys.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 21, 2019
People held in courthouse cells were shackled for up to 15 hours a day, and some were unable to eat, change menstrual pads, or use the bathroom, advocates say.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 19, 2019
On a host of issues—including police shootings, bail reform, marijuana legalization, and the death penalty—critics say Lacey, once seen as a reformer, has sought to preserve the status quo.
Jessica Pishko Nov 12, 2019
Son of incarcerated parents, backed by Black Lives Matter co-founders, Boudin will be the next DA of San Francisco.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 09, 2019
Chesa Boudin is just 240 votes behind Suzy Loftus, even after local law enforcement spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat him.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 06, 2019
At least three women made police reports about Girls Do Porn in 2015, but recruiters continued to exploit women until the FBI stepped in last month.
Meg O'Connor Nov 04, 2019
Ahead of the city’s district attorney election on Tuesday, the alleged baton beating last month of Dacari Spiers has renewed debate over police accountability.
Darwin BondGraham Nov 01, 2019
A lawsuit in Los Angeles and a motion in Orange County highlight battles to get key information.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 31, 2019
Criminal case files from Oakland’s seminal Riders scandal were among documents shredded by the Alameda County Superior Court in 2015.
The officers who killed Joshua Pawlik in 2018 are asking a state judge to block a federally appointed monitor’s decision that they violated policies on use of force.
Darwin BondGraham Oct 16, 2019
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva was elected on the promise of reforming the scandal-plagued sheriff’s department. But eight deputies now accuse Sheriff Villanueva of allowing a violent group, the Banditos, to thrive in his department's ranks.
Ali Winston Oct 10, 2019
The gang database in the state gives police increased authority to approach and harass people for virtually no reason at all.
Emily Galvin-Almanza Oct 04, 2019
Loftus led the San Francisco Police Commission through a bloody and turbulent era.
Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood and District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer intend to openly defy a 1975 state Supreme Court precedent that says law enforcement cannot intentionally discriminate against a person or group of people.
Kate Chatfield Oct 03, 2019
With Chesa Boudin, candidate for San Francisco district attorney
Adam H. Johnson Sep 19, 2019
A narrow ruling on Brady lists ensures that protecting the police will continue to prevail over due process.
Kyle C. Barry Sep 18, 2019
Vaidya Gullapalli Sep 13, 2019
California is one of only six states that allow staff in juvenile facilities to carry pepper spray. But LA’s coming ban is still facing pushback.
Charlotte West Sep 10, 2019
Advocates and homeless people are suing Sacramento County over its treatment of homeless—and the city responded by filing a lawsuit against seven men for being a ‘public nuisance.‘
Meg O'Connor Sep 04, 2019
Our response to crime should focus on healing and accountability, not punishment and retribution.
Chesa Boudin Aug 30, 2019
At 16, Larry Rosser was imprisoned for killing a woman who sexually and physically abused him. He served 22 years in the California prison system before being released in 2017, after parole commissioners became convinced he was a rehabilitated victim.
Aaron Morrison Aug 28, 2019
Assemblymember Jim Cooper is pushing to roll back changes that have successfully reduced incarceration.
Jessica Pishko Aug 19, 2019
Heather Marlowe, now an activist, says neglected kits are a reflection of who and what police prioritize.
Raven Rakia Aug 15, 2019
Vaidya Gullapalli Aug 14, 2019
A new internal audit shows that officers disproportionately strike, tussle with, and draw guns on Black people but then fail to disclose the incidents in their reports.
Darwin BondGraham Aug 12, 2019
Black Lives Matter and other advocates have pushed county officials to abandon the $2.2 billion project with McCarthy Builders.
Lauren Gill Aug 08, 2019
A federal lawsuit claims that Palo Alto, California, police falsely detained, arrested, and beat a gay Latinx man—then boasted about their brutality.
Last year, lawmakers repealed the felony murder rule, which allowed prosecutors to charge defendants with murders they didn‘t commit. Prosecutors are trying to overturn the new law, but AG Xavier Becerra believes that the reform should stand.
Darwin BondGraham Aug 05, 2019