Justice

The state’s highest court now says judges must consider a defendant’s ability to pay, but mass inmate release unlikely.

The Atlanta shootings and other recent attacks on Asian Americans have prompted state lawmakers to resurrect past bills, but hurdles remain in documenting and prosecuting hate crimes.

New data from the state’s Judicial Council touts an increase in women judges and people of color on the bench, but Latinos, in particular, remain poorly represented in many Superior Courts.

Who takes responsibility for vaccinating detainees? “I don’t know,” said California’s surgeon general. Facing such confusion, some county officials are sending doses to immigrant detention centers, while others are awaiting state guidance.

Legal advocates are trying to roll back California’s hefty traffic ticket fines and fees, which are among the highest in the nation. One attorney called them a “blunt instrument” punishing people “when in reality, for many Californians, traffic tickets are simply too expensive to take care of.”

California has evolved in how it treats victims of sex trafficking. But many victims, most of them Black women, are still sitting behind bars for crimes they committed while being trafficked.

The state filed 110 lawsuits against the Trump administration over its environmental laws, immigration policies and other rules and rollbacks. So far, it’s won 23 cases, but most are still pending.

From child support to insurance fraud, court cases are delayed throughout California. Only half as many civil and criminal cases were resolved last summer compared with pre-pandemic numbers. “Justice has not shut down. Justice has slowed down,” according to an attorneys' group.

Download and read this 53-page overview of all the major issues facing California policymakers.

1. California widens mental health conditions insurers must cover In the past, state law only required treatment for nine serious mental illnesses. Even before the pandemic, more than half of Californians said most people with mental health conditions couldn’t get the help they needed. Some families even dropped private insurance to qualify for treatment in […]