Democrats Would Rather Become Republicans Than Make the Case for Justice Reform Jerry Iannelli Jun 22, 2022
How Los Angeles Created the Playbook for a Nationwide War on the Unhoused As politicians look to build public support for homeless encampment sweeps, they’re using tactics popularized in LA—the site of one of the nation’s most intense battles over the unhoused. Jonny Coleman May 26, 2022
Los Angeles County Homeless Residents Say Sheriff’s Department Is Targeting Them The ACLU of Southern California is suing the city of Lancaster and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for excessively citing people living at desert homeless encampments in the Antelope Valley. Francisco Aviles Pino Jun 04, 2021
Washington State’s Most Populous County Curbed Covid-19 Among The Homeless By Moving Them To Hotels. But One Local Government Fought Back. Seattle suburb Renton is battling an emergency homeless shelter through its zoning code. Rachel M. Cohen Feb 10, 2021
COVID-19 is Spreading Faster Than Ever. Jail Populations are Surging, Too In many of America’s major cities, the early efforts to reduce incarceration during the pandemic have been reversed. Jerry Iannelli Feb 03, 2021
Newly Elected Los Angeles DA Will End Cash Bail in Nation’s Largest Prosecutor Office 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
Why Los Angeles Activists Don’t Want Their Mayor In Biden’s Cabinet 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
Law Enforcement Reformers Sweep Major Races In Los Angeles County 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
The Past, Present, and Future of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office 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? Lexis-Olivier Ray, Lex Roman Nov 01, 2020
This California Teacher Wants Environmental Justice 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
The Pervasive Violence of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department 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
The Struggle Against A Stadium’s Construction Became A Battle for the Soul Of Los Angeles Sports venues like the new SoFi Stadium have been crushing poor communities around the country for over a century. Jonny Coleman Sep 10, 2020
Support The NBA Strike, Boycott The Police Athletes should demand more than prosecutions of police officers who kill Black people. The criminal legal system is a guilty system responsible for our oppression. It cannot also be the guardian of our liberation. Here are three racial justice demands that athletes can support right now. Derecka Purnell Aug 27, 2020
People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. 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. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman Jul 17, 2020
Extreme Summer Heat Is Endangering Homeless People Amid COVID-19 Pandemic As a ‘heat dome’ descends on much of the country and local governments scramble to provide safe refuges, concern grows over the effect of a disease that has ‘totally demolished the homeless people.’ Daniel Moritz-Rabson Jul 13, 2020
LAPD Officer Who Killed Man in Mental Health Crisis Is a Gun-Toting Social Media Star 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
L.A. Mayor’s Reaction to Protests Proves He’s Unfit to Govern This weekend’s string of errors is just the latest in his career of cruelty. Jonny Coleman Jun 04, 2020
The L.A. Mayor’s ‘Unacceptable’ Budget Would Deprive Those In Need And Accelerate The City’s Slide Toward A Police State The City Council must not let Mayor Eric Garcetti’s unconscionable priorities dictate how Los Angeles responds to the COVID-19 crisis. May 21, 2020
The Battle to Convert California Hotels into Housing Has Begun Elected officials need to stop making excuses for not getting unhoused people into hotel rooms. Jonny Coleman Apr 24, 2020
Cities Fighting Coronavirus Must Provide Housing For The Homeless Taking emergency measures to protect homeless people from the pandemic is simply common sense. Jonathan Ben-Menachem Apr 14, 2020
Working-Class Tenants Are Seizing Vacant State-Owned Property in LA On the intersection of two public health crises: housing and COVID-19. Jonny Coleman Apr 09, 2020
Closing California Courts Won’t Prevent A COVID-19 Crisis in Jails Los Angeles County judges must move quickly to release a broad group of people in custody. Alicia Virani Apr 02, 2020
How Coronavirus Is Making the Fight for Homeless Communities in LA More Difficult Cascading crises have significantly increased the stakes for the city’s most vulnerable residents. Jonny Coleman Mar 19, 2020
As Coronavirus Spreads, the Crisis LA’s Homeless Community Is Facing Has Been Decades in the Making 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. Sabrina Johnson
Washington, D.C. Continues Low-level Arrests Amid Pandemic The Metropolitan Police Department has discussed reducing arrests, but it has not formally announced any policy changes. Jon Campbell Mar 18, 2020
To Stop the Spread of Coronavirus, California Officials and Attorneys Call for Eviction Bans 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
In Los Angeles, Police-Backed Street Cleanings are Upending the Lives of Homeless People The city is ramping up a cleanup program that activists fear will worsen the criminalization of homelessness. Eliyahu Kamisher Mar 03, 2020
A Black California Man Says a White Ex-Employee Assaulted Him. He Was the One Detained. 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
Jackie Lacey Met Her Progressive Challengers On Stage For The First Time, And It Was Explosive A fiery debate outlined what’s at stake in the race to lead the largest prosecutor’s office in the country. Eliyahu Kamisher Jan 30, 2020
Pretrial Reform Must Go Beyond Ending Cash Bail 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
LA Police Union Contributes $1 Million To Anti-George Gascón PAC The influx of cash shows the police union’s determination to stop the reform-minded district attorney candidate. Eliyahu Kamisher Jan 20, 2020
Los Angeles County D.A. Jackie Lacey Skipped The First Democratic Debate of the Race 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
Los Angeles County Democratic Party Endorses George Gascón for District Attorney 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
How District Attorney Jackie Lacey Failed Los Angeles 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
California Court Destroys Files In Historic Police Corruption Case Criminal case files from Oakland’s seminal Riders scandal were among documents shredded by the Alameda County Superior Court in 2015. Ali Winston, Darwin BondGraham Oct 30, 2019
New Lawsuit Focuses On Alleged L.A. County Deputy ‘Gangs’ 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
California Gang Laws Are Normalized Racism 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
Pepper Spray Is Toxic, Experts Say. So Why Is It Being Used on Children? 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
Chicago’s Top Prosecutor: Clearing Marijuana Records Will Be ‘Life-Changing’ Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is partnering with a technology nonprofit to expunge tens of thousands of minor marijuana convictions. Other jurisdictions could follow. Kira Lerner Aug 30, 2019
A huge victory in L.A. represents a shift in thinking about public safety Vaidya Gullapalli Aug 14, 2019
LA County Supervisors to Vote on Canceling Jail Contract 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
When Cops Lie, Should Prosecutors Rely Upon Their Testimony At Trial? In California, Texas and Florida, advocates sent letters to district attorneys, demanding that they refuse to work with officers with histories of misconduct. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 29, 2019
Media Frame: Stop Quoting Bill Bratton For far too long, the press has leaned on wrong-headed tough-on-crime officials like the former NYPD commissioner when reporting on the criminal legal system. Jonathan Ben-Menachem Jul 22, 2019
County Failures, Not State Reforms, Are Killing People In California Jails Since the state’s public safety realignment in 2011, sheriffs have used criminal legal reform as a scapegoat for their failure to maintain safe jails—and recent reporting has given county officials a free pass to make that excuse. Jonathan Ben-Menachem Jul 16, 2019
Spotlight: After Nipsey Hussle’s Killing, Gang Members Call For An End To Violence Vaidya Gullapalli Jun 24, 2019
Jackie Lacey’s Legacy Is ‘Unfair and Discriminatory,’ Advocates Say A new report charges the Los Angeles DA with seeking the death penalty in unjust and harsh ways. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jun 19, 2019
L.A. Prosecutor Touts Her Mental Health Reforms, But Critics Say She’s Making The Crisis Worse Advocates and attorneys say Jackie Lacey’s rhetoric doesn’t match her actions. Raven Rakia Jun 07, 2019
Are Sheriffs Necessary? Advocates are pushing to abolish the office in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Jessica Pishko Apr 24, 2019
Hundreds Stuck in California Prisons as Prosecutors Seek to Block New Law Senate Bill 1437 virtually eliminated the ‘felony-murder rule,’ but district attorneys aren’t ready to let it go. Jessica Pishko Mar 25, 2019
Expansion Of Largest Jail System In The United States Must End Los Angeles County’s jail system incarcerates tens of thousands of people at a multi-billion dollar cost. The communities most impacted by mass incarceration have had enough. Patrisse Cullors, Lex Steppling Jan 23, 2019
‘A Convenient Scapegoat’ Cherie Townsend is suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after she says they falsely imprisoned her for murder and destroyed her reputation. Raven Rakia Jan 11, 2019
Claims of Racism and Brutality Dog Los Angeles County Sheriff ‘Deputy Gangs’ A lawsuit brought by a Compton resident detailing an alleged beating by deputies is just one of nearly three dozen federal civil rights lawsuits alleging brutality and racial bias at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. George Joseph, Raven Rakia and Ethan Corey Sep 28, 2018
Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office Has A New Interim Leader — And She’s Never Represented Indigent Clients Emma Whitford Feb 09, 2018
Free Meek Mill, Philly cops panic over their new DA, LAPD caught planting drugs, 14 year old boy killed on reservation In Justice Roundup is my weekly debrief rounding up the justice news you need to know. Shaun King Nov 14, 2017
Los Angeles County To Pay $4 Million To Families Of Couple Killed In Car Crash Caused By Police Officer District Attorney Jackie Lacey chose not to prosecute officer Larry Hannan Nov 13, 2017
